On Winged Lens
by Mechalich
Summary: During the timeskip Aburame Shino is sent to retrieve a simple scroll, yet gains a glimpse of something far more complex and dangerous. Now only his unique knowledge and the aid of a stone ninja he dare not fully trust he must try to unravel a conspiracy
1. Chapter 1 Buzzing Days

**On Winged Lens**

**Author's Notes:** So, my next Naruto project begins, and possibly my most ambitious one to date. This story is set during the timeskip and will feature Aburame Shino as the protagonist. Also, in my ever ongoing attempt to further detail the universe of Naruto, extensive appearances by ninja from Hidden Stone can be expected. Thank you for reading and please, reviews, whether positive or negative, short or long, are always greatly appreciated.

Opening Notes: As this story begins during the timeskip it presumes on certain inferences I, the author, have made regarding the events of Naruto. First, an assumption about time. I assume that the chunin exam was held at about midsummer (so that the two exams are held during the extremes of the year). Estimating the time that passed between that event and the beginning of the timeskip I place the beginning of the timeskip in mid-fall. This story begins approximately six months later, in the spring. Second, an assumption about advancement. We know from Shikamaru's explanation post-timeskip that certain character's ranks advanced during that time. I have chosen to have Hyuga Neji and Aburame Shino become chunin at the first opportunity, while all others remain genin. Third, an assumption about operations. I'm generally assuming that while some groups, like the legendary Sannin and Gai's students, might work together throughout their careers, most ninja work with their original genin teammates less and less as time passes (this is supported by Shikamaru's distancing from his team after becoming a chunin).

A note on terminology: In most translations of the anime or manga Shino's ability is linked to 'bugs.' However, 'bugs' is a highly inaccurate term in any biological sense (properly it refers only to insects of the order Hemiptera). It's unclear whether, 'bugs' in reference to Shino's abilities refers to insects only, or all the creatures that generally fall under the label 'bugs' (I have a strange feeling that Japanese doesn't have quite this linguistic problem, but I don't speak Japanese so I don't know what's intended). In any case I will use the terms 'bug' and 'bugs' only to refer to Shino's internal kikai bugs, and not anything else

To previous readers: for those who have read Forged In Water, yes, this story takes place after that one, and does function as if the events of that fanfic occurred. They will obviously not be central to this as Shino only had a bit role in that story, but there may be the occasional reference.

**Chapter 1 – Buzzing Days**

(Konoha – Spring)

At almost exactly one hour before dawn Aburame Shino awoke with his common jerking suddenness. It was always like that, no matter how much he tried to avoid it the bugs' preparation for the coming dawn brought enough of a shift inside him to jolt him awake. It was something he had accepted a long time ago, but there was still something discomforting about never quite waking up when you wanted to.

Shino's morning ritual was simple enough, pull clothes on, munch down a quick dry breakfast, grab the net, bottles, and bag, and head outdoors. It was only when he was outside that the real day began.

His father met him at the door, with his own net and bag, and Shino stepped back to allow his parent to go first. They went different directions once they were outside, for though Shino had no objections to his father's company, having another person nearby simply interfered with this exercise.

The Aburame clan homes lay on the edge of forest and meadow in a relatively little settled part of Konoha. From the first glimmers of sunlight peeking hesitantly over the walls about the hidden village till the sun's heat penetrated down to the forest floor all the ninja of the clan who lacked pressing business where performing the same ritualistic activity. They were collecting insects.

To an outsider it might have seemed like a strange idle hobby for the members of this family to engage in, but it was far more serious. Though the Aburame clan ninja did generally enjoy insect collecting, and Shino certainly found it one of the most pleasant ways to spend his time, there was a deadly serious purpose to this activity. For a clan whose power was built on insects and related creatures the study, collection, and recognition of as many different insects as possible was of tremendous importance. Collecting an insect with your own hands was an essential step for any Aburame ninja hoping to utilize that insect's powers or summon its kind in battle.

It was still early in the spring, and this was the first day Shino had been free since returning to Konoha, so he took his time to look about diligently and patiently. He would not have to rush the end of his collecting as he usually did to meet for training on this, a rare day off.

By this point in his ninja career Shino knew well all the insects common to Konoha, and he rarely found anything new, but the spring always holds surprises. As the sun warmed away cold lingering dew in the evening shadow of a great oak tree Shino glimpsed the flutter of wings from beneath a leaf, slowly twitching back and forth as they tried to warm up.

The Aburame ninja dropped down to the ground immediately, brining his eyes down to the level of this find. Light glimmered on crystalline wings, spread tenuously in the dawn. It was a dragonfly, rare this early in spring, and moreover, it was one Shino had never seen before. That was a real surprise, for dragonflies are conspicuous, and Shino knew all those that could be found in Konoha by heart, and almost all those in the entire Fire Country. He ran through them quickly in his memory, but that only confirmed what he already knew, that this was a find from far away.

Crystal clear all through was the dragonfly's wings, and its body was three colors, banded in pattern. A soft green and brown formed the base, and these were decidedly unremarkable, but it was the third color, a shining gold that fascinated Shino. He had never seen a color like that on a dragonfly, glossy and metallic, but truly golden, not simply a yellow or orange that caught the light well. He suspected that he might, at last, have found an insect no one in his family knew, an achievement that marked each Aburame with their own place in the family.

Shino's net came down swiftly, trapping the still chilled dragonfly. With carefully practiced motions he took out his largest jar and dropped the dragonfly unharmed from net to jar, and then sealed it off tightly with a swift twist.

Long moments passed as Shino watched the dragonfly slowly spread its wings and fly about the jar as well as it might in a confined space. Those golden bands caught the light even more as it moved, flickering as a coin flung through the air illuminated by a candle. Gazing from behind his black sunglasses Shino fixated the image in his mind, so that he would be able to recall it clearly whenever he might wish, something he had long learned to do with the profiles and patterns of insects. Now, he would always recognize a dragonfly of this kind should he see it again. Then he prepared to add the creature to his collection.

Aburame ninja do not collect insects in the same way others do. They treasure insect life, and would not harm it frivolously. So, Shino opened the jar, and then plugged the mouth with his palm. This was the first step, for the next he spoke to the colony of kikai bugs that lived perpetually inside his own body. They crawled out from the holes in his palm then, into the jar and to the dragonfly. The trapped insect tried to evade them, but it had nowhere to flee, and the destruction bugs crawled over it. Gently they sucked free its chakra, leaving the dragonfly paralyzed. Then Shino took it out of the jar and held it in his hand. Balancing the dragonfly motionless on his forefinger he formed a single seal. With that Shino absorbed the chakra his kikai bugs had taken from the dragonfly even as he held its image in his own mind. He felt the imprinting complete then, as the dragonfly accepted him, and he added it to the many forms of insect whose powers he might draw upon in battle. "I appreciate the gift," he said formally to the dragonfly.

Normally Shino would simply release the insect at this point; having observed its motion and bonded with its kind, but this dragonfly was different. It was a specimen new to him, new to his whole clan perhaps, so it would need to be formally catalogued. Still, even this would not permanently harm it. Shino set the dragonfly down on the top of his jar and focused his chakra. He passed his hands through a complex series of hand seals and then finished by drawing a seal in the air over the dragonfly. "Quiet Stasis no Jutsu," he almost whispered the technique.

There was no visible change, for the dragonfly was already paralyzed, but Shino knew that he had stopped its body in mid-function, preserving it against time and decay. Now the dragonfly could safely be placed among the collections of the clan, there to remain for anyone to examine it as needed until a suitable dead specimen could be found and this one released. It was a complex method simply to preserve an insect life, but Shino, like most of the members of the meticulous and diligent Aburame clan, did not see it as a waste, but only a proper duty.

With the dragonfly preserved and placed in a secure jar Shino decided to end his collecting for the morning. He reasoned that this was almost certainly the best thing he would find, and any further searching would only be a waste of time. Besides, dragonflies were auspicious insects, and collecting one was an excellent sign. Shino thought it might well turn out to be a good day.

With a find of the significance as this morning's most ninja would have run home shouting with glee, positively ecstatic at their good luck. However, Shino was not emotional like that. He was always controlled and logical. The find would remain, whether he hurried home or not. That being the case there was no need to charge foolishly through the forest and make a ruckus at home. Such an event would only disturb and inhibit things. The young Aburame would instead simply go home as usual and mention what he had found to his father at the regular moment when asked about how the morning's collection had gone. To Shino that was the best way, keeping the normal flow of things as intact as possible made it all more enjoyable.

Unfortunately the normal flow of things would be interrupted. When he return to the house his father was sitting at the table, sorting through the morning's news, reports from yesterday and the various other business a leaf jounin was responsible to keep. He turned to Shino when he came through the door, his own dark glasses might be of a different shape from Shino's but they were equally masking of everything behind them. "There's a message for you son," his father told him, pointing to a letter on the table. "Looks like orders."

"Hmm…" Shino muttered. This was unexpected, he was supposed to have the day off, and he had hoped for a break between missions, but things could change rapidly in the world of the ninja. He pulled a chair back carefully and sat down to read the note.

"How did it go this morning?" Shino's father asked.

"Good," Shino remarked, not looking up from the letter. It was marked with the seal of the ANBU he noticed. "I found an unusual dragonfly."

"Oh?" his father looked up for a moment. "It's awfully early."

"I didn't recognize the specimen," Shino answered, tearing open the letter carefully, leaving only a minimal mark on the envelop. "It had a golden color I'd never seen before."

"Golden? That is unusual," Shino could detect the interest in his father's voice, though any observer would have suspected that they were both making completely idle, forced conversation. Like his son, Aburame Shibi had muted emotions, and his long career as a ninja had taught him well to keep them completely covered. "I don't know any dragonflies with a golden color. You kept the specimen I assume?"

"In stasis," Shino casually took out the jar and placed it on the table, without once looking at it. After all, that wasn't necessary. He could recall the dragonfly's image whenever he wished. Instead, he read through the short letter. Chunin Aburame Shino, it was addressed. You are to meet with Uzuki Yuugao by 10 am this morning at the ANBU headquarters. Bring all necessary field equipment. When he was finished reading the letter Shino pushed the chair back and stood up.

"So, it is orders then?" his father asked.

"Yes, and with limited time," Shino replied. He turned to head back to his room, to get together his only recently packed away travel gear. Annoyingly, he recalled that not everything had yet been cleaned. "If Kurenai-sensei or my teammates stop by tell them I've been called away."

"Of course," his father answered. "Oh, and this is a very interesting dragonfly, I'm almost certain it's a new record. I'll have someone check the collection formally later."

"Thank you father," Shino called back from halfway up the stairs.

When Shino headed out only a few minutes later his father was already gone. Their meeting that morning had been their first conversation in over three weeks, and with the current situation in Konoha the way it was there was a good chance it would be at least that long before they spoke again. That might have bothered some people, but to Shino it was simply a fact of life. He paused at the table, took a breath, and moved on.

When he picked up the letter on the way out Shino noted his father had added a simple message: stay focused, come back. That was all. It was enough to bring a twinge of a smile to Shino's impenetrable face.

The headquarters of Konoha's ANBU was merely an un-intimidating little training hall, one actually smaller than those maintained by many of the larger clans, and a small suite of offices. It was not what one expected from the powerful and important ANBU who dealt with all the gravest threats to Konoha's security and future, a fact that continually surprised those who visited it for the first time.

Shino, however, understood that it was all a deception. The ANBU headquarters was a fake, simply a dummy front base designed to provide a false objective in case of enemy attack. The actual ANBU base was buried under a large warehouse in the far south of Konoha. That facility was indeed a fairly fearsome base, filled with traps, imposing training rooms, and other dark and hidden chambers. Of course, Shino, as merely a youthful chunin, wasn't supposed to know that, but it was almost impossible to keep any secrets from an Aburame within his home village. When your body is literally crawling with extraordinarily unobtrusive and accurate spies there is little you do not know about the goings on of your home base. Not that Shino would ever tell anyone that he knew such things, it was not necessary for a ninja to trumpet his abilities so that everyone knew them. The bug-wielding ninja preferred the quiet accumulation of useful knowledge instead.

Even if the office was a deception, it was not unguarded. Shino acknowledged that this was both a wise measure and a necessary one to carry off the deception properly. Therefore, a solitary member of the ANBU, in full battle gear and masked, stood outside the entrance at all times. On his first visit Shino had discovered that the guard was not watching too diligently and in fact that this duty was commonly given to ANBU recovering from wounds or otherwise unable to carry out more strenuous duties. It had only taken a few minutes of observation using a mirror positioned by his bugs while he stood far out of sight around a corner to determine that fact.

However, Shino had passed by that guard several times since, and now he simply walked up easily, his hands in the pocket of his long coat as always.

"You're expected chunin," the guard told him in the quiet voice ANBU always seemed to use when wearing those masks. "Go ahead in."

Shino never even paused.

The offices inside the building were a cramped little assembly of desks and chairs, with light pouring through a few small windows and from several poorly placed desk lamps. It was a failure of organization stemming from increased use of a structure never really intended for any use at all, and it was somewhat annoying to Shino, especially as the multiple directions of light had a tendency to cause glare even on his specially crafted sunglasses.

Uzuki Yuugao, instantly recognizable by her long purple hair, sat behind a desk in a cramped alcove. She gestured for Shino to come over the moment she walked in. The young chunin noted that she was somewhat tense, but that was to be expected, the young ANBU captain had labored at great responsibilities since Orochimaru's raid last summer, and like many of the ANBU had been extensively overworked in the past months. Still, that tenseness was not a good sign. Spring had only just begun, the slight reduction in ninja operations brought on by winter would now cease, and the coming summer looked to be long and hard.

"Aburame Shino," Yuugao gestured for him to sit, though there was no chair in front of her desk. "I'm glad you made it on time."

Reluctantly Shino grabbed a chair from behind him and pulled it over to stand in front of Yuugao's desk. He sat down in the borrowed chair somewhat awkwardly; it was designed for someone rather taller than he was. Not much of a conversationalist, Shino did not reply to Yuugao's greeting, but simply waited for her to begin.

"We have a mission for you," Yuugao informed Shino.

Without any comment Shino nodded to indicate acceptance. This made four missions assigned to him directly from the ANBU, and it was somewhat suspicious. Most ninja had their missions assigned to them by their sensei or by the Hokage herself. Being given a mission from the ANBU was unusual; it meant performing a task normally within the elite unit's purview. As this process continued Shino had begun to wonder if the ANBU intended to recruit him. The group had taken losses in the assault on Konoha and the intrigue leading up to it, and few of those had been replaced. It would have been awfully early in his career for the young Aburame to receive an invitation into the ANBU, but he was quite aware that of all Konoha's new chunins he was the only one suited to the task. Regardless, the speculation was academic anyway. Shino didn't really care what his position as a ninja was, just like he didn't much consider becoming a ninja a significant life choice. After all, when your family bonds you to chakra eating bugs as an infant things are pretty much laid out from that point. ANBU or not Shino would calmly do his missions and demonstrate his abilities with a quiet pride and nothing more.

"This task will begin immediately once I finish this briefing," Yuugao continued. "You will leave Konoha immediately following this briefing, without speaking to anyone else until you are gone. I hope you are prepared."

Once more Shino merely nodded.

"Good," Yuugao seemed pleased. "It is a simple enough task, but secrecy is important. You must acquire a scroll from Kodori Tokimitsu, possibly the most important banker in the countries between Fire country and Lightning Country. His banking operations as used by all the important lords and businesses in those countries, and he keeps dedicated account books on them all. We are certain he has a secret scroll denoting the various ninja dealings that have been paid for by lords and businesses his bank has an interest in. That is the scroll you must retrieve."

"Location?" Shino asked.

Yuugao handed him a scroll. "His mansion is located outside a major town in the northwest Clay country (this name is applied to the otherwise unnamed country northeast of Fire country). I've marked the town on this map."

"Do we know the defenses?" Shino questioned.

"Tokimitsu employs a number of samurai and mercenary guards, and probably has traps about his estate as well," Yuugao replied. "Likewise the scroll will surely be well hidden. However, it is not known if there are enemy ninja involved. Tokimitsu is certainly rich enough to employ a ninja in his guard, but he does not employ one from either Fire country or Waterfall, and it is doubtful he would bother with the local clans. Lightning ninja remain a possibility." Looking sternly at Shino, Yuugao admonished. "This is not intended to be a combat assignment. It is most important that the scroll be stolen without anyone except Tokimitsu learning of it, avoid conflicts if at all possible, but make sure to bring back the scroll."

"Understood," Shino replied.

"Good, this mission is considered rank B, don't fail," Yuugao tossed her head, causing her purple hair to flow back over her shoulder. "Oh, and Shino," she caused the rising chunin to stop in mid-motion. "We do not have any information on Tokimitsu's estate, so be sure to map your intrusion carefully for the records."

Shino nodded, and then continued, quietly putting the borrowed chair back and walking out, his hands still in his pockets.

As he walked out of Konoha Shino did not bother to look at the map he had been given, knowing that it was better if he did not know his precise destination until at least the Clay country border, that way a potential tracker could not discern his destination from his route.

It would be a journey of at least five days to the right area in Clay country, so Shino did not hurry overmuch, simply walking at his usual calm and steady pace. He calmly enjoyed the time to himself, away from the rather loud and boisterous presences of his teammates and classmates. Shino appreciated them as comrades, certainly, but he sometimes wondered if people like Inuzuka Kiba could ever understand him at all. Yet like most things this was simply a passing musing of minimal disturbance to the Aburame ninja. He needn't let such thoughts unbalance him.

**Insect Stuff:** (this is a short feature that I intend to place at the end of chapters to briefly explain some of the entomological questions that may arise in this work) For this chapter there's not much, except to note that insect collecting is generally performed somewhat as described, though the jars used are called 'killing jars' and have a lethal chemical mix inside so as to kill the insect but leave it preserved and not rotting.


	2. Chapter 2 Entry Through Glass

**Author's Notes: **New, chapter, with a bit of a gear shift considering Shino isn't in this chapter, but its relevancy should kick in pretty obviously. I really like this chapter actually, there's some good writing in here, so hopefully others will enjoy it to.

Thanks to reviewers, it's always welcome to have feedback. Let me throw a few answers back as well.

Meggido: Actually, I've been working on this story for some time now, as I was done with Forged in Water for a while and just taking my time editing and posting it, so I'm not writing that fast.

Yumeko: I like Shino a lot too, and he's also just developed enough to have a few hooks, and also left alone enough to give me some room to work with.

**Chapter 2 – Entry through Glass**

(Kodori Manor – Late Evening)

The Kodori Manor was a very nice residence, a place bearing the distinctive mark of a rich man who knew what true class looked like. It was a classic castle imitation, complete with soaring tile roofs and styled carvings at every corner, all maintained with great cleanliness and not a hint of gaudiness. Also, like a castle it was built in a sound and sturdy way, a building that would stand the test of time.

Ling Ying decided Kodori Tokimitsu was a smart man, and that it was almost a pity to have to break in. Almost a pity, but missions must come first, and a ninja who starts to question the mission over the merits of style needs to straighten out her priorities. With a practiced eye Ying assessed the building. It's similarity to a castle had some advantages, the stone structure would be easy to climb, if necessary, and the design all but insured that Tokimitsu's study was on the top floor in a room all by itself. Ying knew he must keep his secret documents there.

Tokimitsu himself was not at home, there was a major theatre production in the town this evening and all the illustrious citizens were in attendance, so his study was sure to be empty. Ying knew all she had to do was get to the windows on the top floor and the scroll was as good as hers. The trouble would come in reaching that point.

The estate was well guarded, and even a cursory analysis showed that Tokimitsu had taken steps to prevent theft. His grounds were walled, and inside there were only carefully manicured gardens, with few plants tall enough to hide even a ninja. Guards patrolled constantly, and though their patterns were fixed the boss was apparently paying well enough that they were reasonably alert. That, or this area was troubled enough to keep them that way. Ying knew the reason didn't really make a difference, that the guards were alert was enough. It would be tricky getting past their watch.

Still, a ninja who couldn't sneak past a few hired thugs was hardly a ninja at all. Ying timed out the intersection of two guard's patrols, and the moment they were farthest from a point on the middle of the south wall. This wall was in shadow behind the manor, so no moonlight shone. She waited until the guards were further apart, and then threw a kunai straight into the wall at chest height.

Patiently Ying waited for the guards to close and separate again, making certain they did not see her kunai in the wall. Then, as they passed halfway to their turns she left her place of hiding and ran.

It would have been impossible to climb the wall in the time it took the guards to turn and close to see her, but by leaping up and vaulting off the hilt of her stuck kunai Ying was able to grasp the top of the wall and pull herself up and over swiftly. She tumbled across the stone battlement, and then into the inner courtyard, but not off the wall entirely.

Instead she rolled forward off the inside edge to cling underneath the wall itself, using her chakra to hold in place on the underside of the battlements, where the guards couldn't see her. Of course, there were a few guards posting at the building's edge, one at each corner, and they could see her clearly, but why should they look underneath the battle walk? It was a risk, but Ying felt assured they would not notice her there. She waited for the guards to close over her, and when their footfalls were directly above she dropped to the ground, using the sound of their own movements to mask the slight ruffling of gravel her sandals made when she struck the rock garden below.

Immediately the ninja dropped to her belly, her eyes searching diligently, making certain she had not been observed. When it was clear she was still unseen she considered a final time her plan to get to the wall without being seen. The two guards stationed at the building's corners could potentially see her move in the dark garden. Potentially so could the guards atop the wall and the people in the still functioning kitchens whose windows were still lit at this hour, but Ying discounted these as being unlikely to look inwards and unable to overcome the glare of the indoor lights.

The two guards, however, were a real problem, but there was a method available to avoid them. First Ying snuck close by crawling along the ground like a lizard until she was at the bare edge of the guard's potential visual range. Though she guessed their night sight to be less acute than her own there was no point in taking senseless risks. Instead, Ying watched both men very carefully, crouching with her knees bent. When an opportune moment came as both men looked away from her position and the center of the garden court at once she channeled chakra to her legs and simply sprang.

It was a rather brute force approach, leaping unnaturally high above the vision field of the guards, which was naturally tracked to the top of the outer walls, and then striking the stony wall to cling like a fly stuck to sticky paper by using more chakra, but it was effective. By the time the guards had shifted their gaze back to the center Ying was already in line with and above them, where they would never look, and even if they did she would be almost impossible to spot against the dark and uneven stone wall. After that, all that was left was to climb.

It was an easy enough climb, the widely-spaced nature of imitation castle masonry was simple to find hand and footholds in, and the building was only four stories tall, not so far considering Ying's climb began halfway up. It was not until she reached the roof below the top floor that Ying encountered a significant obstacle.

In the manner of the castle, the Kodori manor had sloping roofs extending out from each floor, providing an overhanging obstacle that would have daunted most normal climbers. Of course, all ninja are properly trained in overcoming just this type of architectural difficulty, so Ying had not anticipated any trouble here. That is, until she spotted the seals.

They were strips of paper pasted to the underside of the roof at key positions, precisely those a ninja would have used as holds for the ascent to the next level. The seals were not complex, only a single character, not capable of doing more than deliver a small jolt of energy if they were delivered. Yet Ying reasoned that was all they needed to do. Even a small jolt of electricity would be enough to force a hand or foot to lose the grip and fall to serious injury or death. The presence of these seals confirmed absolutely to Ying that Tokimitsu had a Cloud ninja on his staff, and she smiled softly at the challenge this represented. A moment later she calmed down and considered the matter with rather less amusement. The Lightning ninja was hopefully not present, instead guarding his employer at the theatre, but his traps would still have to be considered carefully. Thankfully, Ying had a simple way around this one.

Hanging from the last safe position with her right hand, she brought her left behind her back and gave a sharp tug, releasing from its holding guard the large scythe she wore hung there. Flipping it around in her hand so the blade came high instead of low Ying swung the scythe out to grasp onto a tile on the upper edge of the roof. Then she let go with her right hand and swung out. Pulling down on the scythe's haft with both hands she vaulted herself upwards, pulling the weapon up behind her. The moment she reached the rooftop she flipped the scythe around again and slipped the haft up into its harness, locking it into place with a quick motion of her left hand, leaving the blade hanging in its usual low position behind her left side.

It was not a completely foolproof method. The scythe's blade had left a sharp gouge in the ceiling tile, one the lightning ninja was almost certain to find once the theft was reported. However, such a gash could have been caused by many things, and it would not add much information to the rather obvious fact that a ninja had committed the theft.

Once on the roof it was a fairly simply task to walk up to the windows. With her well trained night vision Ying could see clearly into the study beyond. It was a very nice room, one packed with books and papers, but also some exquisite lamps and chairs, all stylishly arranged around an ornate antique desk. Such a room was designed to be used freely by its occupant, which informed Ying that the traps would not be inside the room, but outside.

She inspected the window, and sure enough it was laden with a complex trap, one with a multiple trigger mechanism and strengthened by a series of seals. It would launch out poison darts, trigger an alarm, and blast the trespasser with a powerful jolt of lightning if either the opening mechanism was tampered with or the glass was cut. Such a trap was quite a piece of diligent workmanship, and under normal conditions even a skilled ninja would have required many minutes of exposed work at the top of the manor disarming it. Ying, however, smiled upon seeing the trap, for she was not bound by the normal conditions.

If the cloud ninja was going to expend so much effort on seals at these windows Ying decided she would use a jutsu of her own. Her hands moved slowly through a series of chakra-molding hand seals, and she whispered the technique with the barest breath. "Fluid Crystal Traverse no Jutsu."

Ying reached out her hands and put them to the glass, and then she pushed up with her legs propelling her whole body forward. The glass window, rather than forming a solid barrier to stop her, rippled like the surface of a pond struck by a stone, and Ying's hands and then her whole body passed swiftly through the window. Behind her form the glass sealed up as if nothing had happened.

Her balance never wavering Ying rolled easily onto the fine rug laid down on the stone floor of the study. Now it was only a matter of locating the scroll she needed. It was obviously not one of the many scrolls on the bookshelves of the room or left about the desk. The scroll she required would be hidden somewhere, likely with several other scrolls describing the various illicit dealings Tokimitsu's clients were engaged in. it was just a matter of figuring out where the banker would put such a thing.

There were few clues, but Ying knew she could rely on her target's sense of style in this. With everything else so exquisitely well placed a secret compartment would be as well, it would not fit the banker's sense of aesthetics otherwise. Carefully, the ninja thought about it for a moment, wondering where it would be placed. She ruled out locations such as behind the bookcases or in a safe in the floorboards immediately, and none of the chairs, lamps, or wall hangings seemed appropriate as well.

A moment later her eyes fell once again on the antique desk. It was indeed ornate, and clearly handcrafted. It also was also positioned farther out from the wall than one might expect of a desk.

Curious, Ying approached, and in fact, it turned out that the desk was not actually far from the wall, but that its back was several inches thick, far more than necessary for support. Though the carver had made it appear that this was an artifice to allow completion of a complex design by incorporating the thickened side Ying sensed the deception quickly. She pulled a kunai from her weapons' pouch and tapped it against the back piece. When the distinctive hollow sound came back the ninja infiltrator knew she had found what she was seeking.

It was the work of only a moment to find the catch, and Ying opened the hidden compartment with her kunai. When the piece of wood slid back to reveal a space filled with several scrolls she took a good deal of satisfaction in having outsmarted her target and his ninja guardian. Unfortunately, even with good night vision and the moonlight shed into the study from the windows, there was no way to read the scrolls in the dark. Yin would have to risk a light source.

Most ninja would have struck a match, but she relied on a different method. Instead Ying took a mirror and a piece of polished glass from pouches in her uniform. She positioned the mirror before the scrolls, and then struck the glass against the floor, causing something inside it to shake and glow for a moment. Magnified with the mirror it produced enough light to reveal the writing on the scrolls, but would not cause enough light to be seen as a flash should anyone be watching. It would only have appeared as a wandering moonbeam.

Ying read the scrolls quickly, noting happily that they were all labeled with simple titles. Of course, in keeping with his sense of aesthetics Tokimitsu had given them somewhat creative titles as metaphors to what they truly represented. Ying was forced to quickly reason out their meaning. Thus, unrecorded transportation was smuggling, personal weaknesses meant drugs, irregular finances meant fraud and embezzlement, and irregular mercenaries meant ninja. The last was the scroll Ying grabbed.

She opened the edge of the scroll to make certain it contained actual information and was not a dummy, and then placed it in a hidden pocket of her uniform. That done she made certain to restore everything in the room to the way it was before and used her jutsu to pass through the window out onto the roof.

Now came the easy part, the escape. Tying a line to one of her kunai, Ying spun the weapon around rapidly in a circle, building momentum to a tremendous level, and then flinging it outward.

The kunai landed squarely embedded in the outer wall. Ying reeled the wire in and tied it off against a spoke of the roof, insuring that it remained taught. She had no worries that the wire would be seen, it was thin enough that it could not be glimpsed on such night in a shadowed courtyard, and it would serve as the perfect mechanism for her descent.

Taking the scythe from its harness once more Ying draped it over the wire in the middle of the haft, and placed one hand on either side. It was a simple trick to slide down the wire to the edge of the courtyard. Of course, such an obvious escape would be observed, but Ying had an easy way to overcome that. "Henge no jutsu," she whispered out the command, and her body's appearance was altered to take the form of a crow. With that done she grasped the scythe firmly and leapt out into the dark night air.

It was an exhilarating rush down, one Ying punctuated by screaming out the harsh imitation of a crow's cries through the night, as the wind rushed past and whipped her hair back and cold air bathed her face.

At the bottom Ying spun herself off the wire to land once more underneath the outer wall. She replaced her scythe, reeled in her hanging wire, and pulled free her kunai, diligently erasing all signs of her escape. After that it was easy enough to repeat the entry over the outer wall in reverse, retrieving the first stuck kunai in the process.

Once she was safely outside the grounds Ying paused for a few moments, letting the adrenaline of the mission drain away and savoring the elation of success. She was quite proud of herself for this intrusion, having managed to get in and out expending only a little chakra and using only two relatively minor jutsus. It was quite the accomplishment considering the substantial defenses. As her emotions calmed she remembered to check the scroll once more, insuring she had the genuine article. That confirmed she simply walked off into the night, heading west.

The quiet night in the forest was disturbed by a disquieting rustle of tree branches. It was a rustle Ying knew should not have happened, for there was no wind to move these trees. Such a sound signified a ninja in the trees, one moving in a hurry, and Ying was immediately certain that she had been tracked.

The Cloud ninja was the cause, Ying had no doubts. However, beyond his country she knew nothing of her potential enemy. Her first thought was that he must be quite skilled to track her through the night swiftly like this, especially as she had left few clues. Her second thought was that perhaps he just got lucky. Regardless, Ying knew there was no time to plan anything substantial. Instead, she simply turned and jumped into a nearby tree, seeking a decent place to hide.

Though sound heralded the cloud ninja, he would not prove easy to pinpoint. The night was dark here under the trees and the cloud ninja uniform, with its drab grays, browns, and blues, was not easy to spot in such an environment. Ying tried to judge the distance between the rustles of leaves, attempting to gauge the distance to the enemy, but without success.

Then suddenly, the sounds stopped.

Instantly Ying recognized that her pursuer had reached the end of her trail.

She reacted on instinct, seizing her chance to ambusher foe and take the initiative.

With a single step the ninja burst free of her hiding place to come flying down on the position where her trail ended. There, as she suspected, a lightning ninja knelt in front of her final footprints. Ying reacted with brutal swiftness, pulling two shuriken from her pouch and hurling them at her enemy.

The lightning turned to see Ying's leaping descent, but failed to act in time, and the shuriken struck him along his left arm and right torso.

With a puff of smoke the cloud ninja vanished.

It was a bushin! Ying's eyes widened in surprise, as she now knew her enemy had anticipated her. She spun in midair, so that she struck hands first. Exerting her strength through the painful landing the desperate young ninja was able to flip forward and come to her feet immediately several feet in front of her initial landing point.

A blast of lightning, brilliant blue and blinding, flashed through the space Ying would have occupied had she landed normally.

As the cackle passed her Ying opened her closed eyes and she spun around to face her enemy.

The man had already begun a series of hand seals, expecting his enemy to be blinded by the flash even though she dodged. Ying's preemptory action to shield her vision had caught him at a vulnerable point.

Her enemy having begun the jutsu so rapidly, Ying had a moment to guess he had not yet determined one of her tricks, so she took a chance and acted now. She pulled a kunai free from her pouch with enough haste to send several other weapons spilling out to the ground, but she was ready to throw the moment the cloud ninja released his jutsu.

"Lightning Element: Thunder Blast no jutsu!" the ninja shouted, bringing forth a powerful blast of rushing air, sound, and force.

Ying dodged not by rolling to the side, but leaping up and back, hurling her kunai as she moved.

Though she had timed the dodge well, Ying had not anticipated how wide the jutsu's blast would be, and so it clipped her feet as she moved a torrent or air and force throwing her tumbling through the air.

She landed sprawled, caught in a split-second of vulnerability that could mean her end if her enemy acted.

The cloud ninja was swift, he had pulled out his own kunai the moment his jutsu was finished, and would have buried it in Ying's back, but first he was forced to block her previously thrown kunai.

It was an easy enough block, nothing that would take long enough to delay his attack and save Ying. The cloud ninja did not even look back at the kunai as he turned to target his prone foe, but blocked it blind, basing his own kunai's placing on his glimpse of the throw.

Kunai struck kunai, but the sound that rang in the forest night was not the clang of steel on steel, but a sharp crash.

Ying's kunai, like the shuriken she had thrown earlier, was not made of steel, but of glass.

When the kunai of glass struck the kunai of steel it shattered along its many lines, precisely as it had been designed. Yet those shattered pieces of glass carried the momentum of the original throw, and razor sharp, went on to strike the lightning ninja's exposed face and neck.

The ninja screamed in pain as glass shards struck him, and his own throw was lost in the loss of his focus.

Ying somersaulted to her feet immediately, leaping at her opponent, not waiting for him to recover. As she sprang through the air her left hand went back and unlocked her scythe, swinging the long weapon down and then up again, so she held the weapon behind her still with her left hand low near the blade and her right hand high.

The cloud ninja recovered in time to try and block the oncoming blow, but Ying, still in midair, could chose any level on his body to target, and a kunai could only block a small portion.

Brilliantly edged, the scythe blade cut clean through the enemy, delivering a swift and fatal cut. Ying's feet met the branch underneath the cloud ninja and she pulled back, freeing her weapon and causing the already dead ninja to fall messily to the ground.

When Ying came down she looked sadly at the body. It struck her as a great disappointment, for she had not wanted to kill anyone tonight. She did not like killing, even a clean death like this. It was a part of being a ninja that she knew must occur, but in this context she considered it a failure. He had been good enough to catch her, but not skilled enough to avoid dying at her hands, such was common among ninja in sudden engagements such as this. Ying's glass kunai had tricked him, as it so often tricked her foes, and in a battle such as this had been the one who falls for the best trick is usually the one to perish.

Without urgency Ying cleaned her blade on her enemy's coat, returning the blood from the weapon to him. She made an obligatory search of the cloud ninja's belongings, a task she detested, especially, when, as she had been all but certain, the lightning ninja carried nothing important or useful. He bore only the standard weapons and gear of a ninja, and a number of blank seal papers for the creation of his shocking traps. It saddened Ying to rifle through a dead man's belongings for so little purpose, and she deliberately put everything back as she had before.

Despite now being certain she was not followed, Ying did not lessen her wariness as she continued west. Instead she endeavored to be ever more alert, for the only way to insure no mistakes was to constantly practice even when the risk was low. Otherwise laziness would inevitably develop, and a ninja who was lazy was soon dead. The young lady wished to be well away from both the manor and the site of this small but lethal duel well before the dawn rose behind her.

**Bug Stuff:** No real bug stuff in this chapter, probably the only one where that'll happen.


	3. Chapter 3 Mirrored Dissapointment

**Author's Notes: **Okay, this is a long chapter, but it's very important and a lot of stuff happens. Actually, I think most of the chapters in this story are working out to be pretty lengthy. There's some action here for the combat eager as well.

Thanks to the reviewers, it's nice to have multiple responses, and so I'll share a few thoughts as well:

Meggido: It's really encouraging to have a steady reviewer as well, thanks. I suppose I am sort of following my usual 1 girl 1 guy layout, but I promise that there will be different stuff in here that I haven't done before as things go on.

Szabotage: This is probably my most detailed story to date; I feel the characters here as more suited to the emphasis than ones I've used in the past (Forged In Water was much more emotional for instance). Glad it seems to be working.

Yumeko: It's funny, Ying may actually may be the least original character I've ever really made up. Props to anyone who knows where the inspiration is coming from. The glass stuff is my own idea though, it's something I've been playing with for a little while, and one I hope I can manage to work out properly.

**Chapter 3 – Mirrored Disappointment**

(Kodori Manor - Sometime Before Dawn)

As Aburame Shino opened the final panel to the secret compartment he sought he recalled the path up to this goal. It had not been too difficult, avoiding the manor's guards and traps. His bugs assisted him greatly, serving both as a cloak to make his appearance completely dark, a distraction to hassle and confuse guards, and even as an extension of his limbs to pull him up and over obstacles.

It had been simple enough to hold the outer guards back long enough to climb the wall by having bugs fly into their ears. Past that the swarm crawled over him, altering his appearance to duplicate that of bushes and rocks scattered throughout the garden, so that he might incrementally advance to the wall, where the cloaking bugs upon his skin blended him in as a barely visible bulge in the masonry. Past that it had been an easy climb, with only a moment of difficult as he encountered the seals of the lightning ninja Tokimitsu clearly did keep in his employ. The bugs had formed out to extend his arms then, making a bridge out past the edge and swinging him upward. The trapped window had likewise been simple enough, simply having his bugs plug the various mechanisms and triggers, and chewing through the alarm wire was enough to allow him to pick the window lock and pull it open.

There had been some delay in the study as Shino searched for the secret compartment, mostly due to his undertaking the exercise of finding it himself, and not having the bugs aid him. It was purely a point of training, something that Shino perhaps should not have done in mission, but he had justified by considering the study an area of minimal risk. Also, it gave him some time to have the bugs he had sent throughout the building to scout the other floors report back their findings.

It had been immediately clear that intrusion from the outside would be preferable to the inside when Shino arrived at the Kodori manor, but the ANBU had desired a map of the grounds, and he would provide one. Reconstructing the bug's pathway's in his head it was possible to assemble a rough map of the passages and rooms within the manor. A minor thing, perhaps, but Shino did not neglect minor things. After all, like his bugs, if you added enough of them together they could become unstoppable.

So, he had tapped and probed his way about the room, searching first behind the bookcases before turning to the desk. He recognized later that he should have searched the desk first, it was the most standout place in the room, and men hiding secrets liked to have them in a place they always could recognize, so they would never be troubled with a moment of forgetfulness, but Shino considered it of little importance in this instance, simply something to note for the next time.

The latch tripped then, and the secret compartment slid open, revealing a row of scrolls with interesting labels. Shino could not read in the dark, especially not behind his dark sunglasses, but that was easily remedied. He pulled open a hidden pocket and took out the fireflies hidden there earlier. It was of course too early in the season for fireflies, but an Aburame ninja could summon insects even from far distant climes to his service for a short time. With their soft glow the fireflies provided enough light to read the scroll labels, but not enough to be seen as a flash should anyone possibly be in a position to observe such a thing. Shino read along the scroll labels, realizing swiftly that they were encoded as something of minor puns; it was enough to be slightly amusing.

Amusement vanished when Shino saw that the scroll for ninja business was missing. None of the other labels fit, it was clear, and even by only glancing at the compartment it was possible to note that a space that had been filled was empty, for the other scrolls were tilted out of alignment in the way a row of books would be if one in the middle was removed.

For a moment Shino's breath came fast and ragged and he felt close to panic. Then his natural calm reasserted itself an instant later and he considered the possibilities. The first was that he was the victim of a cruel trap, but that did not seem to be the case, for he recognized that it would certainly have been sprung by this point. His second idea was that the scroll might simply have been removed by the owner for use, but that seemed inappropriate. It made no sense to Shino for the man to carry around such an otherwise well-hidden item while at a busy party, and certainly it would not have been stored anywhere else. This left Shino puzzled for a moment as he thought through what might have occurred. Finally he seized on the very simple idea that someone else had stolen the scroll.

It was a piece of chronic bad luck, or so Shino decided, but it was the only possibility that made any sense to him. Another thief, one who was certainly a ninja to reach this point, had made off with the scroll, almost certainly quite recently, for the compartment had not been disturbed since then. It seemed almost unbelievable, but Shino realized he would have to consider the possibility it had been stolen that very night.

By the time this thought came to him Shino had already closed the compartment, erased all traces of his entrance, and exited back out the still trapped window. He was swiftly descending the building wall as he considered possible options. His mission had not covered this area, so he was on his own now, but as Shino well knew; all ninja must react on their feet when the unexpected occurred. He must come up with a plan, one that was viable enough so that he could at the very least report he had tried everything if it came to reporting a failure before the ANBU. At this point, Shino was quite certain he had only a remote chance of actually finding the scroll. Indeed, the only way he could find it was if the theft had occurred the current evening or perhaps the one before.

For a moment Shino found himself actually wishing Kiba and his nose were present. Chagrinned, he crossed back over the wall and outside of immediate danger. He knew that while he might not have the supreme scent-tracking abilities of a ninja dog, there were other methods to find a quarry. Shino spread his arms and legs wide, letting the kikai bugs pour forth from the holes in his skin. The swarm might not track so well as Kiba could, but it had thousands of eyes, ears, and antennae. It could make a thorough search. The Aburame ninja climbed to a high point in the trees and then released his bugs upon the strong winds, searching for a ninja.

The sun was rising above the hills of clay country as Ling Ying walked calmly westward. She was in no hurry, for now that she had escaped, even though it had been unclean, there was little to worry about. The ship she anticipated for the journey back to her home village would not reach port for another four days, and it was only a three day walk. She could spare some time to appreciate spring in the verdant hills of Clay country's coastal lowlands.

It was a form of solace to Ying, to walk silently through the countryside, appreciating the rising plants and newly awakened insects and birds. This expression of the resilience of life after the cold of winter helped her to overcome the sadness she felt at killing the lightning ninja. No matter how Ying looked at the event she knew she would always consider it a tragedy. Though she had killed before, it had never been alone like this, and in the past those she had fought had been more clearly enemies. The lightning ninja was not one Ying could think of as an enemy. He had only been…an obstacle. That was the tragedy Ying saw, that the lighting ninja's role had been made equal with the traps and gaze's of the guards, reduced to something less than human, more like a mechanical challenge than the death of a real person. She knew that in time she would think of this death as nothing important, a minor altercation in an otherwise completely successful mission, and that was saddening.

Having life and brightness around her helped to banish such dark thoughts, and was pleasing in and of itself. She genuinely liked the outdoor world, even if much of her work was conducted inside. Perhaps it was the study of glass, but Ying felt that properly one who understood the barrier between indoor and outdoor must dwell freely in both.

The young ninja mused on such thoughts as she walked, enjoying the morning and the satisfaction of having completed her mission. Her guard was low, but it was not relaxed completely, no, she was a good enough ninja to never her drop her guard entirely, certainly not when in foreign lands. So she did not fail to notice when the sound of buzzing insects changed.

It was not a subtle change, even though it was a subtle sound. Where there had previously been the buzz of swift, darting flies and the occasional dragonfly, there came something else, a softer sound, from wings that beat with a deliberate slowness, and a greatly magnified number.

Suspicious, Ying twirled about, looking. She saw a rustling section of leaves against the wind, and then her surprise deepened to alarm when a young man dropped from the trees.

He wore a long pale green coat, hiding his mouth and keeping his hands in pockets well below the waist. His face was clean, what small amount of it was visible, for the coat hid much, and a pair of icy dark black sunglasses completely concealed his eyes. He had spiked brown hair, and appeared otherwise average. Most interesting to Ying, of course, was the forehead protector of Hidden Leaf that he wore, and the kunai in his hand.

Shino had only gotten his first truly good look at the female ninja when she turned. He thought her appearance unusual. She did not wear a normal ninja uniform, but instead a design of green, brown, and gray patterns that was fitted to her form. It had a split armored skirt, cut fairly short two thirds down the thighs and close to allow mobility, and a series of plated, stenciled pieces covered her shoulders, knees, wrist and her chest most of the way to the neck. The most obvious piece that stood out was the great scythe strapped to her back, a strong and powerful weapon that was clearly not a farmer's tool, but a weapon made for war. It had a top spike and back spike, and a strong, edge with an impact point in the middle. The blade sat ornately but sturdily fastened to a haft of dark red wood, with a small spike at the butt. The girl's face and form were fairly plain, though Shino was struck by the obvious intelligence in her light brown eyes, and her quirky and honest smile. Smooth brown hair hung in a continuous wave to slightly past her shoulders, tied back behind a forehead protector marked with the split mountain symbol of Hidden Stone Village.

The leaf ninja was a serious concern for Ying, and while she held a smile at fist, the calm menace behind his seemingly casual stance disturbed her. It was easy enough to tell that he wanted something from her, and if it was the first thing intuition brought to mind, there might be serious trouble.

When he spoke, with a quiet but focused voice, it was only to confirm Ying's fears. "You have a scroll I require."

"Do I?" Ying questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Shino noted the intelligence in her voice, and the soft seriousness to her otherwise pleasant speech. His confidence, however, did not waver. "Yes, a scroll you acquired from a certain banker to the east, less than twelve hours ago."

Ying did not like the accuracy of that assessment from this oh-so-calm leaf ninja with his hands in his pockets. She had the disturbing feeling that no matter what she said, talking was not going to provide a solution to the current dilemma. "Supposing I had such a scroll?" she asked. "What gives you any right to ask me for it?"

It was not in Shino to mince words at this point, he could tell that his adversary was more than intelligent enough to render such games unnecessary, and al the points were clear to them both anyway. "I was assigned a mission to acquire that scroll, and if you have it, then I must get it from you."

"So," Ying spoke sadly. "This is a stroke of bad luck, as I'm afraid my mission is also to retrieve the scroll. I cannot give it to you." She smiled feebly. "I don't suppose that you'd just let me keep it by right of winning the race, would you?"

"No," Shino answered, voice cold. "That is impossible. Instead, if you hope to live, you will toss the scroll to me now."

"That's a fairly substantial threat leaf ninja," Ying replied, not being coy, simply being honest. "Why should I believe your nasty words?"

"Look down."

Ying did, and gasped. A dark sea of bugs stretched out in circle around her, covering the ground for many meters in every direction, and it did not take any time at all for the stone girl to understand who had brought them there. "So, these bugs will eat me then?"

"They eat chakra, mostly," Shino answered, shrugging. "But if I command it they will consume flesh as well."

"A very nice trap, I must say," Ying acknowledged. "I wasn't paying enough attention." She tensed for moment, reaching back. As she saw her opponent tense, she bought the one second everyone one laboring under such a demand has. "I suppose I'll have to give you the scroll then,"

Shino had no choice but to interpret the beginning of Ying's reach back as a move to grab the scroll from a pouch, anything else would be an unjustified act of aggression. However, the instant later, when it became clear the girl was not reaching for the scroll, but moving to grab a weapon, he ordered the bugs to swarm. Shino knew there was no time for his opponent to complete any jutsu or other such move, so he simply raised his kunai to block any desperate throw.

The instant, however, had been enough. Ying reached down and grabbed a piece of glass from her belt pouch, a hollow tube shaped like a tiny flute, and carved with a single seal. With a swift flick of her wrist she tossed it at the ground.

The glass tube broken into shattered pieces the moment it struck the hard dirt of the road and a terrible shrill cacophony of lurid high pitched shrieks seared the air.

It was the exactly the right move, Shino noted, even as he reflectively covered his ears. A visual attack, or even a scent based one, would not have stopped the bugs, but this auditory attack was able to do so.

Ying jumped back, coming to land on a branch some meters above and away. "Bugs is it?" she called out. "Well then, try this: Swarm Summoning no jutsu!"

The stone ninja girl's hands passed through the quick seal forms, a set Shino recognized well, and then slammed down into the branch. A loud crack sounded in the air and from between Ying's hands a cloud of black and gold erupted, one that advanced toward Shino.

They were wasps, something Shino noted instantly, without thinking. Immediately he directed his own bugs to combat them, for even a few stings could cause him debilitating pain and cause him to loose focus at a critical moment. He dodged back, disconcerted. This situation was not to Shino's liking. He had never seriously fought against an opponent who truly knew something about insects before, as it was impossible for members of the Aburame family to direct their kikai bugs against each other, and it took away one of his chief advantages. Still, Shino adapted quickly. He was not helpless without his bugs to aid him, and even with the wasps to fight, some of the colony was still in his body. His maneuvers were limited, but not depleted completely.

Wasps and kikai met in midair, and in the manner of insect swarms in combat did not crash of shove against each other, but melted together becoming a single swarming mass of insects, biting stinging and stabbing at each other with every weapon they had.

Then suddenly, Shino had a more dangerous concern.

Ying had not waited for the swarms to collide, but had immediately pulled the scythe free from her back and roll-jumped down. Rolling forward she came up underneath the battling insects to attack.

The great scythe was held with blade low, left hand down and right hand high, so the blade was swung out on the left side and the haft came across the body. Ying's initial strike brought the blade up and across, to slice at Shino's right side. He reacted well, blocking with his kunai, but Ying continued the move, sliding the curving blade over the kunai and bringing the scythe over to the right. She twisted her hands about the haft and then brought the blade back from her right. Shino blocked again, but sensing that the move would continue, broke away abruptly, ducking and rolling back, so that the third stroke, one coming overhead, passed through empty space.

Recognizing that it would be difficult to match that scythe close in Shino jumped back, seeking the safety of the trees.

Ying did not follow, but smoothly switched the scythe to her left hand, and pulled free three kunai with her right, throwing in a swift, skilled motion.

Shino still had his own kunai, and he raised it to block rapidly, knowing that would be a difficult move, but possible. Then he noticed how the light seemed to reflect oddly on these kunai, each caused a tiny spot of glare on his sunglasses. With a flash on insight he recalled the stone girl's earlier move, and saw suddenly that the kunai were glass.

Desperately countering Shino threw his kunai to knock away the furthest of the oncoming weapons. It shattered into many shards, but luckily they were far enough away that none struck him. Next, with precise timing and anticipation coming from the long hours of learning to evade and counter Hinata's deadly soft strikes Shino reached up and grabbed both oncoming kunai. It was an extremely difficult maneuver, but he executed it perfectly, and moreover, using the long sleeves of his jacket he caught the razor sharp glass edges with fabric and not his skin, preventing deep cuts to his hands.

Ying's eyes showed surprise when Shino blocked the attack so completely, but she was already moving, with a follow-through in motion even before the strike ended. Though the counter to her throw had been successful, Shino no longer held a weapon, and therefore had no way to deflect the overhand attack of her scythe and she leapt at him.

With speed that deified expectations bugs swarmed out from holes in Shino's palms and wrists. The glass kunai fell from his hands and the bugs moved across, forming a solid bar. There they locked together, presenting only a wall of solid, shielded abdomens to the outside.

The black staff of bugs rose with Shino's arms as he blocked the overhand blow.

Scythe held against bug-form for a long moment, the sharp steel blade sliding against that unified carapace, but finding no way to push past. Indeed, the lock proved that Shino's strength was somewhat greater than his stone opponent's, enough to make up for the greater leverage provided by the scythe's size.

Then the staff came apart as all the momentum of Ying's downstroke was used up, and the bugs swarmed out to attack her face.

She leapt back, recognizing the danger, spinning her scythe before her in wide circles, clearing the bugs away. Yet, she recognized the shift, as for a moment the leaf ninja had been blocked from view by the bugs.

As she skidded backward along the ground, and swiftly circled to the left, Ying looked for her opponent. She knew he could not have gone far, but there were plenty of trees for him to hide behind.

Then he appeared, sliding out from behind a tree to throw a set of shuriken and charge with a raised kunai.

It struck the stone ninja as a somewhat foolish move, but there was no choice but to counter. She blocked the shuriken with the hard wood of her scythe's haft and the armored plate over her right shoulder, not loosing the scythe's attack position. So, when the leaf ninja approached she simply swung up in her base stroke again, sliding cleanly past his guard and sending the blade deep into his body.

A body that melted away into a cloud of dark bugs.

Ying gasped at the trick, and further, when she saw the set of shuriken and kunai buried about an explosion note in the form. It was a deadly trap, and she had only a second to act.

The knee jerk reaction was to jump backward, but Ying was a ninja, she knew instinct could cause death. Instead, she continued the initial blow, whirling her scythe around to spin with furious rapidity, pulling tremendous force and throwing the cloud of bugs and weapons back even as she leapt upward with the spin's momentum, flipping back and away as she did.

It was the right choice, steel weapons blasted by below her and to the sides, but she avoided being impaled. Still, Ying was slammed by the power of the explosion note, and fell to the ground somewhat unsteadily.

However, she reacted quickly. "If you want to play with bombs, well…" She reached into her pouch and pulled out a pair of thin glass rectangles, each carved with special seals. Flinging one to each side she made a quick seal with her hands when they reached into the trees near where the leaf ninja must be hiding.

The glass cards exploded with all the force of an explosion note, plus they sent tiny pieces of razor sharp glass in every direction, forming a hail of crystal shrapnel that could seriously injure anyone it even grazed.

Ying fully expected her opponent to avoid this attack, however, it gave her a moment to get back into a fighting stance and restore equilibrium.

Then four copies of the leaf ninja dropped from the trees.

"The bug trick again?" Ying asked skeptically. "Well then, perhaps I'll have to take a closer look." She reached up with her right had to her forehead protector, and then from underneath the metal plate pulled down a small set of lenses, fitting them over her eyes.

"How will glasses help you determine which one is real?" Shino asked openly, not bothering to hide a twinge of curiosity.

"Oh, it's simple enough," Ying replied. "Even if you can mask the colors perfectly, light passes through a solid person and a conglomerate differently." She spun about suddenly, and launched her scythe from her hands.

The weapon whirled through the space between the trees, spinning through each of the copies in turn, even as Ying rolled forward beneath a thrown shuriken and came up next to a tree. The scythe came swirling back after spinning through each of the four in turn, sending bugs scattering everywhere. "How interesting that none of them were really you." She caught he blade easily as it came back to her. "If you could create that many, then your swarm must have beaten mine."

"Caterpillar Ooze no Jutsu," Shino spoke from Ying's left.

Great gobs of a yellow, pussy substance began to fall from the tree branches, sticky and thick. Ying's left foot, against the tree trunk, got caught in some. With a swift motion she pivoted and cut through it with her scythe blade, but even then her movement was slowed.

Bugs began to rain down from the trees then, gathering toward Ying. She spun forward, keeping her scythe ready, and deflecting a sharp rock thrown from somewhere above left, but the bugs closed in. "Your bugs protect you, but it seems I need a shield of my own," Ying sucked in a deep breath. "Well," she jumped up, spinning through the air, and letting loose her scythe for a moment. Her hands flashed through seals as she channeled chakra. "Shard Shield no jutsu!"

The bits and pieces of shattered glass weaponry scattered about the forest floor rose slowly to surround Ying, spinning slowly in orbit around her body. Bugs struck that screen and were knocked away bloody.

The stone ninja grasped her scythe from the air, flipped, and landed softly.

She discovered only a moment later that she was now in a pile of caterpillar ooze, one a slightly different color so that it blended with the ground.

From the left Shino attacked a kunai in his hand. The glass shards struck him, but they had not the force to drive through his thick jacket to inflict any serious wounds, something he had already noted.

Ying blocked, but Shino read the move and flowed with the scythe, striking again, and then again. Suddenly desperate, Ying threw her strength to her almost immobilized feet and executed a spin, bringing the scythe wide in horizontal circles, forcing Shino back. A moment of time purchased with the expenditure of chakra, Ying jumped back on her momentarily free feet, taking care this time to land in a clear area. She recognized that Shino had already made an adjustment to fight her style, even if she had managed to block the effectiveness of his bugs. It was not a good sign. She paused a moment to glance through the battle so far, and made a sudden decision.

"Stop!' Ying shouted. She flipped her scythe around, so that it was held in her right hand alone, blade facing back behind her, and extended her left palm outward. "That's enough."

Shino, standing before Ying, stopped in mid-motion, but he did not lower his kunai. Pausing he looked at her carefully, and seemed to search for the right thing to say. "Are you surrendering?" It was an almost foreign word to the ninja tongue, but it was the Aburame's best guess.

"Hardly," Ying laughed softly, a light, open sound. "You haven't beaten me yet, but, I haven't beaten you either. The way this is going either of us could kill the other, I don't have any certainty. I don't think you do either."

Shino shrugged a tiny motion of his jacketed arms. "Is that not the way of ninja battles?"

"Maybe," Ying answered. "But this is rather extreme isn't it? After all, it's only over a scroll."

That was indeed something to consider. Shino was prepared to risk his life if need be, all ninja must be willing to do so, but it seemed unnecessary to risk his life in this battle, fighting over a scroll with names and numbers on it. Still, he could not simply forsake his mission. "I must have the scroll. That is not debatable."

"Alright," Ying replied, with a small smile. She reached into her pockets and pulled out the scroll taken from Todori's secret storage. "I can give you the scroll, but I have to ask you to let me make a copy of it first."

"A copy?" Shino took a good look at the scroll. "It would take hours at least even for a skilled scribe to copy that scroll. That amount of time cannot be considered."

"And if I can copy the scroll in a few moments?" Ying quirked her head to the side slightly, tossing her brown hair about momentarily.

"How?"

"I'd like you to put that kunai away first."

"What about your weapon?"

"Well…" they stared at each other for a moment, and then suddenly, in an eyeblink the weapons were put away. Ying's scythe was on its harness and Shino's kunai had disappeared into his pouch. A moment later Shino's bugs crawled back into the holes in his body and Ying let the screen of glass shards fall to the ground. Shino noted with interest that Ying did not seem much disturbed by the bugs crawling into him. It was unusual for someone to see that and not be seriously shocked.

"Now then," Ying said easily, and she took a rectangle of glass from her pockets. "With this, I can make an imprint of the whole scroll." With steady hands she placed the scroll on the ground, and then opened it slightly. Into the opened portion she put her piece of glass. Then Ying took a glass shuriken from her pouch and used it to scrape several characters onto the glass rectangle. "Glass Recorder Seal." Then she simply moved the glass pane along the scroll from one end to the other, unrolling as she did so.

Shino walked over, picking up the end of the scroll, and began to roll it back up as Ying proceeded. However, his attention was on the technique being displayed. Tiny lines of writing, far too small to read, appeared on the glass for every line on the scroll it passed over, forming an incredibly compressed record. Shino guessed that there must be some way to unseal the technique so that it could all be read out easily. It was a truly interesting technique; one Shino could immediately see had many uses.

When Ying was done she tossed the edge of the scroll back to Shino, who easily rolled it up in midair. Both scroll and glass disappeared a moment later.

"Well then," Ying said after a short silence. "I guess that's it. Bad luck for both of us, but perhaps it will work out acceptably."

"Perhaps," Shino said nothing more in way of answer, but simply turned and walked away.

Ying did likewise, but both knew they were thinking carefully about the other as they did so.

**Insect Stuff:** Obviously some insects get thrown around in this chapter, but there's not a whole lot to say about them. It is generally accurate that large groups of insects fighting each other don't stay in nice demarcated lines but become a giant nasty mass (this happens most often when ants go to war).


	4. Chapter 4 Tempered Reaction

**Author's Notes: **So, time for another chapter. Less action here, but more puzzling. It's one of the things I'm trying to do differently with this story, add some more problem-solving elements and convoluted plots. So, I hope it works out.

I think I might need to mention at this point that Ying, despite being from Stone, has absolutely nothing to do with the ninja currently being shown in the anime fillers. I actually wrote everything so far before all that came out anyway, but I'll have a brief in story explanation eventually too.

Thanks to all reviewers and hopes for more!

**Chapter 4 – Tempered Reaction**

(Konoha ANBU Headquarters – Five Days Later)

Uzuki Yuugao's expression had gradually darkened throughout the course of Shino's report. She was not bothering to hide her irritation with the way things had gone. However, when Shino finished she looked at the scroll sitting on her desk, and then at a sheet of paper next to it. Slowly, and with deliberate care she took a stamp from a drawer, pressed it to an ink pad, and stamped a small open box at the bottom right of the paper. "Mission completely successfully," she said, and filed the paper away.

That done the ANBU captain turned back to the chunin sitting before her. Her narrowed gaze was highlighted by her purple air, and she appeared as some cold witch from dark legends, ready to freeze bones and drink blood.

Shino was unperturbed, though he did wonder if Yuugao knew how fantastical her image appeared at the moment.

"Chunin Aburame Shino," Yuugao began, her voice chopping up each word as she seemed to work slowly through the way she wished to let her aggravation free. "There is a substantial irregularity to your report."

She gave Shino the opportunity to say something here, but he did not rise to the bait. It was the Aburame's opinion that he had said his piece; he would let Yuugao say whatever she had to say. He already understood the consequences of his actions. He did not need this reminder, but he made certain to listen carefully in any case, just so he could repeat Yuugao's words if he later must.

"You have indeed brought back the scroll you were ordered to retrieve, and as there are no reports of unrest from the area it appears that Kodori's men were unaware of the retrieval," Yuugao would never call a ninja mission a theft, even though that had been the essential heart of the task. "That much is acceptable, however, your further actions deviate sharply from what you were instructed to do."

"While it is commendable that you recognized another person had appropriated the target scroll and moved to retrieve it, this is where the problem arises," Yuugao looked straight into Shino's eyes. Rather, she looked into the blank reflected darkness of his sunglasses, something that tended to spoil the affect, but Yuugao continued anyway, willfully ignoring those glasses existence. "You allowed a ninja from another village to acquire the data contained in the scroll, a village that is not an ally of Konoha. This information was to be retrieved secretly so only Konoha would possess it and no other village would learn it had been acquired. That objective of secrecy is now a failure." Here Yuugao paused, her tirade complete. She looked at Shino, but the young chunin had not moved at all in his borrowed chair, but simply sat calmly with his hands tucked inside his long jacket. Though the ANBU captain could not tell whether or not she had affected Shino in the slightest, she acted as if everything was in her control. "Now, chunin Aburame Shino, what have you to say in your defense?"

"Nothing more than I reported," Shino answered. He was still not certain what Yuugao was trying to provoke him to say, but he would give only the reason he had given before. It was not as if he was lying, the reason was true enough, and there was no need to say that he had not particularly desired to either kill or be killed by the stone ninja. "As the battle continued I was uncertain whether or not I would triumph. As I was alone I prioritized retrieval of the scroll over keeping absolute secrecy, and accepted the offer the stone ninja made. I used my best judgment based on what I knew at the time."

"Very well," Yuugao said when Shino answered, some of her fire abated. "That is acceptable. A ninja must always act according to their own judgment in the absence of overriding orders. Simply remember, we must all live with the consequences of those choices now."

"Understood," Shino answered.

"Good," Yuugao stood with a sudden motion, but her voice had changed, and seemed to shift suddenly from anger to contentedness.

This emotional change puzzled Shino. He could not tell if it was real or an act. That annoyed him, he disliked things he could not determine, and he resolved to work harder at reading such emotional cues.

"However," the ANBU captain smirked slightly. "Now we get to go tell the Hokage."

Shino couldn't help the small jerk of surprise than ran through his body at that announcement. He quelled it as quickly as he could, and tried to cover it up by standing.

"Did you not expect that?" Yuugao smirked slightly, something that irritated Shino. He didn't like to be mocked for mistakes, as it caused others to bother him. For such reasons the young ninja had always tried to make as few mistakes as possible, it was easier to work hard toward perfection than deal with other's focused attentions. "Because another village, and a non-allied one at that, is involved," Yuugao continued. "This matter must be brought to the Hokage's attention. She will have to decide how we proceed from here. Come with me."

Aburame ninja followed ANBU captain from the headquarters; neither brightly anticipated the coming meeting.

"Yes? What is…oh it's you," the comments were abrupt and distracted at once, as if the person speaking could not be bothered to pay attention to the ones entering the room. A moment later, when Uzuki Yuugao and Aburame Shino stood fully inside the wide office of the Gondaime Hokage, that voice finally got back to them. "Yes Captain Uzuki?" Tsunade asked, pushing a tall stack of papers out of the way so she could actually see the pair of ninja standing in front of her desk.

"I'm afraid I have a matter that requires your attention Hokage," the ANBU captain began formally.

"This had better not be more reports," Tsunade interrupted. "I'm awfully sick of all this paperwork."

"No, this is rather more serious," Yuugao kept her voice formal, even though Shino thought it was clear that the captain found Tsunade's paperwork aggravation amusing. He just hoped they would get to the point and not start some sort of insult trade. It had been rumored among the ANBU that Tsunade liked to get into shouting matches with those who interrupted her during frustrating sessions of paperwork. That was one of the more minor rumors Shino had heard that wasn't truly meant to reach his ears. He tried to keep his mind off them; it would have been hard to take Tsunade at all seriously based on some of the things whispered in dark corners. "We have retrieved the ninja employment scroll of Kodori Tokimitsu."

"I remember that mission," Tsunade muttered, and then barked. "So what? Just analyze the scroll and assign additional missions accordingly. Why are you ANBU bothering me about it?"

"Well, I'm afraid we are not the only ones who have the scroll," Yuugao said far more quietly. "It seems the Hidden Stone Village has a copy as well."

"What?" Tsunade's gaze now moved from Yuugao to Shino. "This was your mission wasn't it?" she addressed him for the first time. "Explain."

Shino had waited for this point, and so he spoke clearly and readily, reporting the events much as he had done to Yuugao only an hour or so before. "I penetrated the Kodori manor as instructed and found the scroll's hiding place, but the scroll was already gone. Tracking, I found another ninja leaving the area, and the corpse of a lightning ninja. So I pursued this ninja. It was a female stone ninja, and she did indeed have the scroll. I attempted to acquire it, but she resisted and I was not confident of success in the battle," Shino paused, allowing him to stress what he would relate next. "She then offered to give me the scroll, provided I allow her to make a copy. As I was not confident of victory, I agreed. The Stone ninja used some technique to make a copy of the scroll very quickly, and then gave it to me and I returned to Konoha as quickly as possible."

"How did she copy the scroll?" Tsunade asked.

"Onto a piece of glass."

'Really?" Tsunade tapped her finger against her desk repeatedly. "It must have been a fairly skilled stone ninja to give you such a challenge, chunin. Your skills are generally well regarded."

Sensing that Tsunade wanted an explanation, Shino gave the simplest one that came to mind. "As I was the pursuer in unknown ground the conditions were somewhat difficult, also, my opponent had some grasp of how to fight against my clan's abilities."

Tsunade tapped her fingers on the table again. "Interesting. Well, bad luck for us then that they got there first. I guess we'll just have to deal with Hidden Stone having a copy. Hopefully it will be of less use to them than us, as the banker's businesses were located closer to the Leaf." The Hokage appeared to consider things for a moment, her brow furrowing slightly. "Captain Uzuki."

"Yes." Uzuki replied smartly.

"I want you to keep Aburame Shino involved in this matter. If the Stone become involved there is no need for them to learn anything about an extra Leaf ninja," Tsunade smiled and turned to Shino again. "You have just inherited a lot of work young man. Now, dismissed."

The two ninja nodded and turned smartly to leave the Hokage's office. Once they were outside, Yuugao turned to Shino. "Since you are to be fully involved with this process you will have to keep it completely secret. However, to avoid suspicion you will keep up your usual activities. The extra time working with us will come out of your family time. Your father, because he is a jounin, will be made aware of this matter once he returns to Konoha. Now, you will report to our headquarters immediately after dinner to assist with the scroll analysis."

"Understood," Shino replied. He was somewhat disappointed, but he had expected some sort of punishment or complication for the mission anyway. Extra work for the ANBU was something he could handle; it was far preferable to some of the scenarios he had concocted in the past five days for his punishment. Beyond that the secrecy was not something Shino considered troubling. He hadn't planned to tell anyone about this mission anyway.

"So, as you can see the scroll is divided into three parts," the ANBU ninja explained, gesturing to the unrolled scroll on the long table. "The first part is a list of names, and we can identify some of them as ninja from various reports, so we assume these are the ninja hired on missions. The second part is a list of dates and locations. Obviously, these indicate what mission was performed and when. Now, the third part is the tricky one. It's a list of coded words each linked to an amount of money, which must be how much was paid. All the information is here, the problem is we don't know how the names and places are linked to the money, or even which missions go with which name. The secret must be in the code, that's obvious, but we haven't figured it out yet. Actually," the ANBU paused. "I hadn't even started on it. So far the analysis has been preliminary. I guess you get to assist in the decoding."

"As ordered," Shino muttered with his usual quiet and unassuming voice. He did not know the name of this member of the ANBU, and wasn't interested in finding out. There were some things a ninja didn't need to know, and Shino had the good sense not to bother trying to determine who all belonged to the ANBU. Regardless, Yuugao had ordered him to assist the ninja when he'd reported for duty after dinner. She hadn't seemed interested in his presence at all, but was reading some other documents rather intently behind her desk.

The ANBU cleared his throat slightly. "Well, yes. Okay, like I said the trick must be in the codes. Each one is exactly seven letters long. I've run a few standard decoding patterns against the codes, but they don't work. Based on how these things are set up I don't think these codes are actually words at all, but some simpler form of puzzle. Each one probably contains a fairly simple cue as to what entry they match with, it's just going to be finding that cue that's the hard part."

Shino listened carefully, but didn't respond, instead, he looked up and down the scroll carefully, studying what was recorded there. Names, dates, payment, location. Shino understood that most likely the location corresponded to something more detailed Tokimitsu had recorded elsewhere, but still he felt that there was something missing from the scroll. Thinking back Shino recalled how carefully ordered the banker's apartment had been, how organized. This scroll seemed to be missing something.

He thought about it in silence while the ANBU ninja went over some patterns and things they might look for in the codes. Shino was only half listening, as he became convinced something was missing. Finally he said it. "There's not enough data."

"Huh?" the ANBU turned to look at Shino, puzzled.

He saw only the Aburame ninja standing silently with his hands in his pockets as always, nothing readable behind those dark sunglasses.

"I said there's not enough data," Shino repeated, somewhat disappointed that the ANBU hadn't caught on quickly. "There are no ranks or countries. Tokimitsu was meticulous. He wouldn't leave that out."

"Well…" the ANBU thought about it. "You're right. I suppose it would make sense to record that. Actually, he probably should have recorded the rank of the mission as well." The man turned toward the scroll, scanning down the lines of code. "Hmm, it seems he did."

Shino's eyes followed the ANBU's finger as it moved over lines of code, and he saw what the other saw in a moment. Still, he remained silent, letting the older ninja say it.

"So, it seems the fourth letter represents the mission's rank, since there are only five letters. Really only four, as S is only used once," the ANBU smirked. "Well, that's to be expected; even a powerful banker would rarely be involved with an s-rank mission. Hmm…I can't seem to identify the rank one. I thought it was the second letter, but there are eight letters not four, and there are only four ranks he could have employed: genin, chunin, special jounin, and jounin. I see those letters there, but maybe only one in three is one of those. How odd…"

"He used the other four letters for missing-nins," Shino interjected.

The ANBU turned back to the scroll, looking at it again. "Well, it seems you're right. H is a missing-nin genin and D a missing-nin chunin. How simple. A good thing to notice that," he nodded at Shino in acknowledgement. The Aburame ninja didn't bother reacting. "Let's see then, if the pattern continues then the sixth letter will be the sign for the country." The two ninja looked at the scroll carefully. It was somewhat puzzling. Finally the ANBU broke the silence. "Well, I think I'm still correct. L is the letter used most often, and that must be ninja from the Lightning country. There's a lot of F marks as well, those must be us, Leaf ninja from fire country. I see signs indicating the occasional Stone or Mist ninja as well, but there's a bunch of others. They must indicate ninja from minor countries or ninja clans without a village. Well, that's three letters, but we still haven't figured out how these codes relate to the names or locations. That's the real trick." The ANBU returned to staring at the scroll.

Shino had been listening, and he was thinking even as the ANBU explained things he had already figured out. He understood the link was there, but he wasn't about to try and decode the pattern the way the ANBU was attempting. If that ninja couldn't do it, and he surely was trained in this sort of thing, Shino was certain he'd be of no help. However, he knew there would be some way to provide a clue. It was a puzzle, and Shino thought about everything they knew about the scroll, recalling for a moment one of the ways to find hidden insects. Look for a line out of place, or something unique, that was the method he'd been taught. Shino was aware that it was unusual things that provided insight into the ordinary. Then, he had it.

"Only one s-rank mission you said," he spoke suddenly, startling the ANBU slightly.

"Yes, but what of it?"

"Couldn't you figure out which location that mission must be using ANBU records?" Shino questioned.

"Well," the ANBU thought about it. "We might be able to. Let me see those locations, and get me that book from the wall."

Silently Shino trod over to a low shelf behind an unoccupied desk and grasped a large folio. He brought it over to the ANBU, who opened it carefully.

"If there's any location that matches s-rank missions we know about or guessed at then it should be here," he began leafing through the folio, looking up and down the list of locations again and again. "Got it!" he burst out suddenly, drawing angry looks from the various other ANBU in the room, but the decoding ninja did not mind in the slightest. Turning to Shino he let his excitement come out. "This is the one," he pointed to record on the scroll. "Ushui Castle, five years ago. The local lord's castle was set aflame and his daughters were almost kidnapped. Leaf ninja were serving as his guards. Hmm, I guess one of Tokimitsu's business partners had something against the lord." The ANBU turned from that record back to the list of names. "Now, if this report we have is correct the defenders believed the assault team consisted of jounin from lightning country. Lightning jounin…lightning jounin," his finger moved up and down the scroll. "Ah, I've found seven different entries. Assuming a four man team four of these entries should have something in common."

"The fifth and seventh letters are the same for four of them," Shino inserted, providing the answer, not that it would have taken the ANBU any time to figure out.

"So they are. I and E., how very basic, it's simply the last letter from each word. Well, I suppose he never really expected anyone to steal the scroll," the ANBU ran his hand along his chin. "I wonder if Tokimitsu was going to use the same code for the names," he looked back to the scroll. "No, he was a little more creative. He used the first letter from each name instead. Still, that's easy enough. Well, I guess we know the whole code now." The ANBu turned to Shino. "Thanks, you were helpful, this went quicker than I expected."

"Are we done?"

"Haha!" the ANBU laughed with great amusement. "You think that was it, funny. No, you weren't really here to help me solve the code; you're here to help copy. So, grab a sheaf of paper, we need to recopy every mission and all the ninja involved so that everything is unscrambled. I expect it will take a few evenings, and you get to do most of it yourself."

Suppressing a sigh Shino did as he was asked. Here at last was the tedious chore he had expected to be saddled with for his failure, the copying of name after name. However, the insect-wielding ninja immediately recognized that the task was not something to be conducted blindly. He was to be the first ninja in Konoha to understand the full contents of this scroll. There was a tremendous amount of information to be condensed from those names, ranks, and missions, and Shino intended to become quite familiar with it all. After all, information was a weapon like any other, and knowledge like this might be worth many lives one day. He set down to copying diligently, but made certain to internalize as much as he could about the data every time his pen made a mark.


	5. Chapter 5 Stirring the Kiln

**Author's Notes: **Time for another chapter. Not as swiftly as I'd hoped perhaps, but its going. Anway, time to go through the return from Ying's perspective. There are some new characters here, including my third major Kage character (Cloud, Mist, and now Stone). Readers of Behind Killer's Eyes may note some similarities between the Tsuchikage who appeared there and this character. While not a deliberate imitation, I am drawing somewhat on my use of Stone village in that story for this one.

Thanks for reviewers and an answer or two:

Meggido: actually, Ying doesn't really save any time, since what she did is closest to making microfilm of something. It still has to be rather time-consumingly extracted.

Hamstertai: Yeah, poison in the kill jars, usually cyanide based to (nasty stuff). I am trying to emphasize Shino from the entomology perspective, as a student of entomology myselft

**Chapter 5 – Stirring the Kiln**

(Iwa (hidden stone village) four days later)

The Tsuchikage was an old man. It was patently obvious to anyone who saw him, even when he was merely sitting behind his desk as he was now. His face was wrinkled and lined with the creases of a long and difficult life, his body bent and crinkled, bones creaking with every motion. He no longer had anything but wisps of dark black hair on his scalp beneath the concealing cap of his office. Veins stood out for all to see on his grizzled hands, hands that hardly seemed capable of holding the fine writing brush the Tsuchikage now held. Anyone beholding the body of this man would have determined he was in the very last stages of life.

Yet there was a different story told in the eyes of the aged ninja. Those eyes remained sharp and icy, crystalline with a penetrating vision. Behind that gaze was a mammoth store of experience and wisdom, all the things a ninja of such tremendous age accumulated. Age might have taken much of the power of the Tsuchikage's body, but it had left his mind untouched, as if it did not dare to probe the cavernous expanse of a ninja who had lived through multiple ages of his kind.

As always when she saw the Tsuchikage, Ling Ying wondered how old the leader of her village really was. He was only the second man to hold the rank of Tsuchikage, a rank he had held for longer than most ninja had been alive. None of the young ninja of Ying's generation knew the truth of the Tsuchikage's age or origins. It was known only that he was older than the 3rd Hokage of the Leaf had been. Most suspected the Tsuchikage was in his late seventies, it seemed the safest guess, but some wondered if he might have lived even longer than that. Could he have surpassed eighty years of age? Might he then be even so old that the Hidden Village of Stone had not yet been founded when he was born? Ying did not know, and she had never found anyone who would tell her. Even the one who sat next to her now, her wise master, Yuki Shojin, claimed to know nothing of the Tsuchikage's age or origins. Indeed, he had urged his pupil to never ask such questions, for the Tsuchikage's past was not a topic the wise delved, not since the purges.

Indeed, all Kages save the Hokage had once borne the power of a bloodline limit, yet now only the Tsuchikage remained of that breed. He was the last Kage with a bloodline power, and likewise the last of his clan, for the rest of his relatives had been destroyed in Stone's own purges, purges this man had not worked to stop. It was impossible to delve behind those crystalline eyes to see what this ancient man thought of those dark days, or how he had managed to continue afterwards.

Ying and her master sat before the Tsuchikage in uncomfortable chairs for many long minutes, forced to remain silent and unmoving while he studied a scroll on his desk, occasionally making the slightest of marks with his writing brush. The scroll he held was the one Ying had painstakingly retrieved, now decoded and recopied with her master's aid. The Tsuchikage studied it intently, only the occasional swift motion of his hand or the gravelly clearing of his throat revealed him as a living man.

While the leader of her village engaged in his analysis Ying recalled her mission, and what had happened afterwards. She had been reprimanded of course, by the Tsuchikage himself, but not so harshly as she might have expected. Instead, the scroll had been decoded with great speed for something she had believed to be of only middling importance. The young lady wondered what she might have done to bring back the real scroll of course. She had run through the battle with the strange leaf ninja in her mind hundreds of times even before she reached the ship that returned her to stone, but had found no answers. No matter what options she might consider there seemed to be no way she could be assured of victory. Indeed, again and again Ying was confronted with the awful image of the Leaf ninja spitted on her scythe even as his insect servants consumed her flesh. That wretched image, for she considered insects to be elegant creatures and had no desire that they should be the instrument of her death, confirmed to Ying that she had made the right decision, at least mostly. There was no way to be sure, her own knowledge of herself was of course incomplete, and so she was left wondering if she had done her duty in the correct manner. It had not made for a pleasant past few days, her own dark thoughts piled onto the recriminations of the Tsuchikage and her master. Ying had not expected the summons this morning, only her second day back in Stone, to bring her before the Tsuchikage again. She had no idea what the purpose of this meeting was, and it worried her greatly, a dark cold pit building slowly in her stomach every time the Tsuchikage made a mark on the scroll.

At last the old ninja leader raised his eyes from the scroll and put down his writing brush. He cleared his voice with a loud, mucus-laden sound, and looked with a fierce gaze to the two before him. "So, to make absolutely certain," he began, his voice guttural and gruff, ground beneath the weight of age. "We are sure the Leaf has a copy of this scroll?"

When her master did not answer immediately Ying realized she was being called to speak. "Yes," she said hesitantly. "Lord Tsuchikage, unless the Leaf ninja failed to return to Konoha due to some mishap, but I doubt this greatly."

"No, that is unlikely, not if he was able to fight you evenly," the old man returned. "We must assume the Leaf has a copy of the scroll, and no doubt they decoded it with reasonable ease, just as we did. Ah," he sighed deeply, exhaling with a slow and measured force. "This is indeed a serious complication, but also a great opportunity."

The other two ninja stayed silent, unsure how to take the remark.

"Now, Ling Ying," the Tsuchikage's potent gaze razorred in upon her as a jutting crag. "You say this Leaf ninja used bugs and wore sunglasses correct?"

"Yes Lord Tsuchikage," Ying answered, trying to suppress the nervousness threatening to spill out from her deep recesses.

"So, it was a member of the Aburame clan," the Tsuchikage rubbed his chin with a wrinkled, dry hand. "Given the age you reported it must be the young member of the clan who just recently became a chunin. Yes, that makes the most sense. Most interesting…" he appeared to think carefully for a moment. "Master Shojin?" he queried the other man for the first time.

"Yes Lord Tsuchikage?" Shojin replied in his usually steady and sage-like voice.

"Your student, she has a knowledge of insects to match that of any in our village, am I correct?" it could hardly have been called a question, for the Tsuchikage clearly knew the answer, as he had to all questions he had so far asked. Yet, Ying and her master were easily manipulated by his voice and words, and even the experienced Shojin leaped to provide every answer he could.

"Certainly none of my other students has displayed quite the interest in insects Ying has, and I do not believe any other ninja in the village has made a study of such creatures, aside from the Kamzuruchi clan that is, but their time is long past, and I hold all their secrets in any case." Shojin answered clearly, but felt obligated to add. "Of course, my own knowledge does still outstrip her somewhat even in the study of insects."

"As it ought, since she remains under your tutelage," the Tsuchikage remarked offhandedly. "Still, if her knowledge is good enough, and considering that she was responsible for the initial encounter I suppose she is the best candidate."

Now Ying could contain her nervousness no longer, and words tumbled free from her, laden with anxious concern. "Candidate for what?" then she gasped, and dropped her head in shame. "My sincerest apologies, Lord Tsuchikage."

"Be calm young one," he replied easily. "Of course you are curious; you need only a little more control. Since you have asked though, I shall answer you." He reached down and picked up the scroll, his long and wrinkled left index finger pointing to a single name. "This man here, Nozu Hidemoto, is listed as a missing-nin from Grass country. He is only a genin, but was a veteran and quite skilled for his rank. Most importantly, he appears to have performed over a dozen missions for various of our careful banker's business partners, all within the boundaries of Clay country. Now, an interesting fact, almost all the missions within clay country listed here, and there are many, were performed not by the close by Leaf or Cloud ninja, but by missing-nins or ninja from the various village-less clans in the country. Most importantly, not a single Leaf or Cloud ninja above the rank of genin has performed a mission for any of the country's most important businessmen in almost nine months. If we recall what happened nine months ago…" here Tsuchikage left the fact hang, knowing that by this time almost every ninja in the five countries and beyond knew that Orochimaru's renegades and the Sand ninja had attacked the Leaf during the chunin exam there. "It is indeed a very interesting puzzle, do you not think so?"

Both other ninja nodded.

"Yes, most interesting, so we need more information, this scroll provides only an outline, and details are required," Tsuchikage looked Ying up and down. "Ling Ying, you are about to be given a mission more important than anything you have ever done before, a mission that you will complete without the aid of any ninja from Stone. Therefore," those crystalline eyes bored into Ying, and she felt the weight of the Tsuchikage's powerful mind weighing down upon her, searching into her soul and ripping out all her innermost secrets. "I must ask you once again. Are you fully loyal to this village?"

Thus was the heart of the matter revealed, the dark burden Ying had labored under all her life as a ninja. Now she thought only that her answer was worthless, that no matter what she said the Tsuchikage had already made his decision. Of course, there could only be one answer, and it was the answer she held deep in her heart, an answer she had always felt ought to be enough when given honestly, yet never seemed to satisfy. "Of course, Lord Tsuchikage, I will always be loyal to this village, it is my home, and I am a Stone ninja," Ying answered as she always had, resentful, but understanding the cause. She knew well that it was a suspicion she must bear all her life, and her resentment of it was simply something that must be ignored and not allowed to grow. After all, she knew deep down that it did not at all outweigh all the good that had come to her in the Stone village.

"Excellent," Tsuchikage seemed quite pleased with Ying's speech, though his gaze did not move; it remained piercing deep inside her eyes. "Then I will give you the mission to find this ninja, Nozu Hidemoto. He will surely be in the clay country somewhere. In one hour I will have a scroll drafted with a sketch of this man and all we know about him, you will come and pick it up and then leave immediately. I will give you a charter to take a ship back to Clay country on the early morning tide. So, you will need to prepare quickly. Understood?"

"Yes, Lord Tsuchikage," Ying answered firmly, her quick voice injected with resolve. "But what am I to do with this man once I find him?"

"Ah, yes, that is important isn't it?" though age obscured it the Tsuchikage seemed to chuckle silently. "It will perhaps depend. You will be required to use your best judgment. The information I desire is everything Hidemoto knows regarding the operation of missing-nins and local clans in the Clay Country. However, you are not an interrogator, so I will not ask such things of you. Actually, I think you are free to offer Hidemoto a place among the ninja of Stone Village. Failing that attempt to capture him and bring him back to be interrogated. If that is impossible then I will give you a scroll to use. Read it in Hidemoto's presence and he will be compelled by a rather powerful genjutsu to reveal that which he knows. In that case you will have to copy information very quickly, so it is not the most preferable method, but he is certainly not a strong enough ninja to resist the technique. Do you understand?"

"Yes, of course," Ying answered.

"Good, then you are dismissed, come back in an hour, prepared to leave the village," the Tsuchikage ordered.

Ying nodded, and left her seat to hurry out.

As she reached the door, the Tsuchikage spoke again, his voice stopping her easily, even though it was not directed anywhere specific. "Oh, and if the Leaf ninja are involved feel free to work with them. Indeed if that young Aburame boy is the one they send, I encourage it. The mission will likely be easier with another to aid you. Whatever the Leaf want allow them to have, just make sure we get the information. Above all, do not fight with them unless attacked directly."

"As you command, Lord Tsuchikage," Ying answered, though her words held clear puzzlement. Yet she said nothing more, and hurried out.

"Why are you sending Ying to work with the Leaf ninja?" Yuki Shojin asked the Tsuchikage after his student had left and a chunin had been sent to prepare the necessary scrolls.

"Are you suspicious?" the old ninja asked with a chuckle.

"Not precisely," Shojin replied, his voice perfectly calm as it always was, a cultivated practice of many years. "I am simply somewhat concerned for my pupil."

"So are all good teachers," the Tsuchikage answered simply enough. "Do not worry overmuch, I suspect that one can handle herself, or I would not have sent her on this mission."

"Still, I cannot grasp what you are trying to achieve by sending her to work with the Leaf. They are not our allies, and indeed might be enemies soon enough," Shojin was a smart man, and known well in the village for his wisdom. Nor was he young, to be awed by the Tsuchikage's age as so many ninja were. Regardless of all this he could not grasp the many schemes of his lord, a man who had led one of the great shinobi countries for almost as long as he himself had lived.

"That's why I'm the Tsuchikage," the leader of the hidden village of stone smiled, his face wrinkling darkly. "It is the mind that matters to the one who sits in this post. Let the other countries have their young geniuses to rule them, I will outlast them yet."

"I wonder then," Shojin remarked as if musing to himself alone. "Will you tell me of this scheme then?"

"Oh, indeed," the Tsuchikage chuckled like shifting gravel again. "Yes, but you will have to guess why I have chosen to tell you."

"Of course."

"Indeed, well then," Tsuchikage stood, supporting himself on his short staff as he walked over to a detailed map that hung on the wall. With a delicate touch for a man of such age as he his hand passed smoothly over the fabric of that map, tracing a line from the Village of Stone down through the Grass country and to the Village of Leaf. "Old enemies, the Leaf, indeed. They stopped the ambitions of our lord not so long ago. I remember that much easily, even if many others have forgotten." Memory seemed to swirl about the Tsuchikage to Shojin, recalling that time in the past, a decade and a half gone, to a brutal war, a war he had also fought in, the last war with Konoha, the last time Stone had exerted great strength against any enemy. The power of the Tsuchikage's recollection was immense and clear as crystal, a mastery of history that formed one of the great sources of his wisdom. "They stopped us then, yes," he went on. "It was a simple thing, really, who could have anticipated that one, the Yondaime Hokage, the Yellow Flash, would be so pivotal. Still, it was a mistake, to forget how much single individuals change this world of the ninja. Yet, I have outlasted that Hokage, and even the older one, Sarutobi, my old adversary, a man who could see the wheels of this world turn just so well as I."

The Tsuchikage moved his hand again, moving it up upon the map's soft fabric, tracing the border with the small Country of Field, the home of the Sound ninja. "Such foolish passions the Leaf ninja of your generation have Shojin. That Orochimaru, trying to conquer death, ha!" the Tsuchikage's words grew dark and there was a ponderous anger behind them. "Does he think he can outlast even that which brings down the greatest heights of the world? So foolish."

"But it could be said he did us a service," Shojin interjected, echoing without any opinion of his own the feeling of many Stone ninja.

"A service?" Tsuchikage laughed bitterly. "Oh indeed, he has vaulted our village into a much greater position now. Our borders are now guarded only by weakened countries whose leaders are no match for their forebears. It does indeed benefit us, and if Orochimaru had perished in his little aborted coup it would be a bright world indeed for our country. As things stand, however, it is far more complicated. There are too many dangerous unknowns remaining, too many loose ends yet to be tied before we can thank Orochimaru as he is sent off to Hell." The Tsuchikage tapped the Field Country's place on the map, and then moved over to the neighboring Clay Country. "So many little puzzles, all swirling about the Leaf. Perhaps the country will fall, but then perhaps it will not. Alliance would be foolish, the Leaf's chances are not good in the coming struggle, but there is no need not to cover all bases don't you think? A smaller, more personal bond may serve us well if the Leaf does indeed survive, and if not?" here the Tsuchikage smiled darkly, and Shojin thought he detected a vicious amusement in his leader's eyes. "Well, the Aburame clan is sensible and resilient by all accounts. If Konoha should fall I think they are among those likely to survive, and would that not be of benefit as well?"

"It seems you are set up to win either way," Shojin remarked, not surprised at all.

"Something I have learned in all my years as Tsuchikage, the best plans are the ones where no matter what happens you can see no way that you would be worsened, only benefits," his smile stretched wide, a crag in the mountainous expanse of the Tsuchikage's aged face. "With your student's help this shall be one of those plans."

The Tsuchikage's hand moved back across his map, to come to rest upon Stone Village once more. "Yes, if one makes the proper moves to open the rest of the game becomes so much easier."

**Insect Stuff:** Nothing about insects here, but I'll make a comment about the recent anime fillers. Those hit me kind of at a bad time (I would have written this rather differently if I'd known they were going to create a group of insect masters in Stone). I've inserted a small comment in this chapter to allow me to more or less disregard those events, which is kind of too bad, because it seems like an interesting group.


	6. Chapter 6 Findings in the Cold

**Author's Notes: **New chapter time, and this is a pretty cool one I believe, as the next major task begins and the characters get more detail. Hope everyone enjoys it.

Thanks to my reviewers, and some thoughts for your trouble:

EvilP: Well the biggest difference so far is that Shino and Ying's meeting was an accident, not deliberately arranged, and that unlike Ise and Yi they aren't going to be part of the same village. There are some stylistic differences as well (I'm not using direct thoughts in this story for instance) and I hope to make the plotline less linear this time. The biggest difference, however, should become apparent around chapter 10. I do have a weakness for the 1 male 1 female trick, possibly because it's easiest.

Meggido: I actually had a lot of problems typing Ying's name for the first couple of chapters as my fingers kept wanting to stop after the first two letters. Ying is only named Ying as respect for her inspiration; I wouldn't have otherwise chosen something so similar. Glad you liked Tsuchikage he seems to be turning out well so far.

**Chapter 6 – Findings in the Cold**

(Western Clay Country – Six Days Later)

The western portion of clay country was covered in the muddy red clay hills that gave the place its name. Many thought that dark red soil oddly beautiful, for it could catch and hold light to shine in a way most other soils could not. Shino thought it as barren. He knew that clay could support little life beneath it, with its tightly packed particles that resisted digging and propensity to turn from saturated slush to cracked brick in only a short time. There would be few insects in that soil, so it was rather boring to the Aburame. However, he found himself staring at those clay soils in the hills often; it gave him something to do while he waited.

Shino sat in his long green jacket outside a small restaurant, sitting alone at one of the outdoor tables. Winds whipped about him regularly, cold and chill, so that all the other few customers at this sparse mid-morning hour were inside. Spring was yet young here, and the local people saw no need to brave it. Admittedly, Shino was somewhat uncomfortable with the cold himself, but I was easier to sit outside than be bothered with looks from the old men indoors. Besides, being outdoors saved his bugs from having to walk through the doors and inside to him as they reported back from the various scouting missions he had set them. A little cold was more than acceptable to avoid inconveniencing his bugs, after all, Shino understood that they were doing basically all the work at this point.

It had been a hasty few days for the young chunin; ever since the scroll was decoded he'd been set a rather furious pace. The scroll had been coped frantically, though not without Shino learning a great deal of interesting things about the operations of ninja in these northeastern countries, and analyzed by the best of the ANBU. Not more than a day had passed after the scroll was decoded when Uzuki Yuugao had thrust another mission upon him.

Find a missing-nin from grass country, one Nozu Hidemoto, a veteran genin, so Shino had been instructed. They wanted him to use his bugs to capture the man and then send a message back to Konoha for an interrogator from the ANBU. Though he wasn't expected to, Shino knew why the man he was tracking was important, at least, he understood why he might be, the scroll had revealed that much when he copied it. The puzzle intrigued the Aburame ninja, all the missing-nin activity, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it, his native suspicions had been triggered by this assignment.

Yuugao, however, had been circumspect in her instructions, simply telling Shino to go to the western Clay Country and find the ninja. She had not specified a time frame, so Shino suspected the ANBU were sending him instead of an interrogator because they expected this mission to take quite a while. That is itself had not surprised him, but Yuugao's response to his own question had been far more puzzling.

It was not that Shino really had objections to working alone, in some ways he might be said to prefer it, but he understood that some ninja had better talents than others. So, he had asked if his teammate Kiba, loudmouth though he was, might not accompany him on the mission, expecting that an expert tracker might be very useful.

The ANBU Captain had immediately refused the request, and harshly, surprising Shino. It had been so vehement he knew there must be a deeper reason than simply secrecy for keeping his teammates out of this matter. After puzzling over the matter on the walk from Konoha to the Clay Country the Aburame had come to the conclusion that the involvement of the Stone ninja was the reason. He suspected now, and it was a dark and strange suspicion indeed, that Konoha did not want anyone else to interact with the Stone ninja, wanted to avoid as much as possible ninja becoming involved with them. Of course, this begged the question of why they desired this, but Shino hadn't quite figured that one out yet.

These puzzles kept him busy in an otherwise boring stage of his mission, however. He had spent the past two days sitting in front of restaurants much like this, letting his bugs range far and wide, searching. Shino would have liked to search himself, but though the bugs could track him down anywhere, it was too confusing to try and assimilate their reports when his own location changed. Therefore he let them roam, looking about for anyone who might be a ninja, tracking chakra sources above normal throughout the vicinity. Of course, that was hardly enough, since he had already detected a number of persons who were likely ninja, or many people who were likely simply naturally supplied with strong chakra. Without a description of Hidemoto to compare against Shino could only roughly sketch each description the bugs gave him. They were not the best source of data on human appearances, though he had trained them to recognize the various forehead protector symbols. That last was a bit of help. Though a missing-nin could not be relied upon to wear his forehead protector it helped eliminate legitimate ninja from the search pattern. Already Shino had noted four cloud ninja, a full platoon moving east, one stone ninja moving back west, a pair of leaf ninja headed into central clay country, and even a rogue bearing the sound headband near the border. That final one Shino had logged carefully in his head, planning to report it as soon as an opportunity arose. He'd tracked Sound ninja, both those who still served Orochimaru and those who'd turned bandit, before, and had no intention of letting any slip past him.

For most of the morning Shino sat out on the windy terrace, ordering an occasional hot drink to sip from a serving girl who seemed displeased anyone dared sit outdoors in the chill, he enjoyed the calm silence of being undisturbed, slowly piecing together the reports from his bugs on a map in his head.

Then suddenly Shino was disturbed, as the bugs shouted at him urgently, reporting a strong source of chakra close by, very close, and the whispers began a description that was all too familiar.

The Aburame ninja's right hand dropped into his coat, reaching for a hidden kunai, even as he turned whipcord quick to his left, beginning to stand sharply, his right leg pushing the chair behind him back to knock it away.

A slender hand with short, un-lacquered nails caught that chair suddenly, and held it up. "There's no need to make a mess now is there?" a voice Shino immediately recognized asked smartly.

Shino turned to see a ninja in garb of gray, green and brown before him, wearing the forehead protector of Hidden Stone. His eyes followed the curve of her face to meet bright brown eyes with a glittering intelligence, and then down a smooth plain face to a softly smiling mouth. He did not need his eyes or the bugs frantic reporting to recall the long shaft of the scythe haft that rose behind her armored garb or the other weapons concealed among those unusual clothes. It was all graven clearly into Shino's memory of that morning only a short time before, even as it now seemed long ago. It was a form graven into his mind, one that marked his first legitimate failure as a ninja. This young ninja from Stone, a girl whose age seemed similar to Shino's own by both the estimate of his eyes and his bug's aid, though she was not the most dangerous enemy he had ever faced, or the most powerful, was the first to truly put a stop to his completion of a mission. Yet somehow, Shino felt no hostility toward her, and sensed none the other way. It was puzzling for he knew well that he had striven with all his strength to kill her only two weeks before.

So Shino nodded in reply to the remark, and reached his left hand out lightly, still inside his jacket, and pulled the chair back in slowly. Then he sat down, a calm and reserved motion, keeping his muscles light and relaxed. Not for an instant, however, did he lessen the grip on his kunai, and bugs swarmed about his under his jacket and the table, ready to strike.

"Did I startle you?" the stone ninja asked. "My apologies, but I saw you sitting here and I couldn't help but come over." Her voice was unusual to Shino's ears. Most ninja girls he knew spoke very softly, like Hinata, or extremely brashly, as Ino or the Hokage often did. This girl's voice was crisp, clipped and even, with a slightly feminine inflection, but no weakness. There was also just the slightest edge of noble refinement to her words. All in all Shino found her voice rather pleasing, just business-like enough to avoid irritating associations, but otherwise completely personable. Still, that was only a minor thing to his mind now, as he wondered how she had avoided his bugs.

"You don't mind if I sit down do you?" she asked when Shino only shook his head slightly in response to her first question. When he shrugged moderately by way of response she took that as assent, and sat across from him. "You seem to be puzzled, it's the bugs right? You want to now how I got so close."

Shino just stared at her with his dark sunglasses.

"Alright, it's simple enough," she smiled softly, a motion that brought light to her eyes and a calm assurance to her otherwise plain face. "I happened to see a couple of your scouts when I was far away. I caught one in my hand and figured out they eat chakra the hard way I guess." She rubbed her left hand slightly. "After that it was simple enough to suppress my own chakra consciously so you wouldn't find me." Shino made no reaction to the explanation and the girl seemed to run out of things to say. Then she twisted slightly, remembering something. "Oh, yes, I had to keep your little bug captive as well, couldn't let him report back," she reached down into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a small glass box. Opening an almost invisible hinge on the top she opened one side and let out a small dark bug. "Seems okay for being in that box for an hour or two," she remarked idly as she put the box away.

The bug flew back toward Shino immediately, coming to rest on his hand before his mouth. It related its story quickly, and Shino understood that the Stone ninja had told him the truth. It took only a moment to recognize that she was able to sneak so close only because he had the vast majority of his bugs scouting long distances, and almost none at mid range. Also, he had not been bothering with moderate chakra sources, only clearly strong ones. The girl had not masked hers more than he might expect from any skilled ninja. Still, there was one bit he wanted to confirm. "Most people wouldn't notice a single bug."

"Well, yes, I guess you're right," she replied, almost giggling. "I kind of got lucky, I happened to be thinking about those bugs of yours just at the moment I spotted that one flying by. And, well, I do keep a look out for bugs most people don't, but you knew that already."

Recalling the swarm of wasps this girl had summoned Shino knew he did at that, but he said nothing.

"Quite interesting bugs by the way…" the stone girl went on idly, and then stopped. "Ah, but we shouldn't talk like this without having been properly introduced. Now, I gave you your bug back, so could you give me your name?"

"You're a stone ninja," Shino replied, as if that were enough answer in itself.

"Harsh," she remarked, and her smile faded. "I had thought you would be more courteous."

Shino sighed inwardly. It probably wasn't wise, but he could tell he would be giving this woman his name. It wasn't like his name was worth much anyway. Anyone who'd seen his bugs could identify him as Aburame, and there weren't any other Aburame ninja his age. Besides, it wasn't like this girl would be the first foreign ninja he'd told his name, and that one had been far more dangerous. "Aburame Shino, age fourteen, chunin, Hidden Leaf Village."

"Thank you," she replied with another little smile, and reciprocated. "Ling Ying, age fourteen, chunin and journeyman Glasscrafter, Hidden Stone Village."

There was a lot of information in those names and ranks, quite a bit indeed. Neither Ying's age nor rank surprised Shino, but there was something else. "Ling Ying?" he asked, altering his voice just enough to make it clear he was asking a question.

Ying jerked back slightly, and her eyebrows narrowed. "Yes, Ling Ying, I wasn't born in the shinobi countries. My exiled farther sent me to Stone for safety as infant, do you intend to make an issue of it?" it was almost a challenge, but it held echoes of old resentment and old pride.

"Not at all," Shino replied, his first real comment of the whole encounter. "I simply wondered, and there is one other thing…"

"Journeyman Glasscrafter right?" this time Ying did laugh slightly. "Of course you would wonder about that. It's no harm to tell you, you've already seen the moves in action. Journeyman is my rank on the Glasscrafter path. It is artistic calling as well as a ninjutsu method. Journeyman is the middle rank, above initiate and below master. This sort of thing is common in Stone, but perhaps it is not well known in the Leaf."

"I've heard of it," Shino remarked, and so he had, there were a few ninja who practiced methods much like a trade, instead of a fighting school. The Leaf had an order of woodcarving ninja who used the crafter's titles in addition to ninja ranks. "But then why do you know insects?"

"You put things together fast don't you?" Ying asked with a quirked eyebrow, and Shino could not tell if this amused her, threatened her, or even both. "Don't think I'll fall behind. Regardless, the insects come as an interest from my Master. He was the first to work with insects through glass, and I have followed in his footsteps."

Those dark sunglasses continued to stare at Ying, even as she stopped. She waited a moment, and then reached down to her pouch again.

"Here," she placed a small thing on the table between them.

Shino stifled a gasp when he saw it. Ying's hand drew back from a wasp made of crystal, only a few inches in size it modeled the shape of the flying insect with a great deal of accuracy, head, thorax, abdomen, wings and legs, all the pieces were there, and though it was hardly a great work of art, Shino was greatly surprised and quite astonished at the accuracy of this crystalline replica.

"Of course it's bigger than the real thing," Ying went on. "It has to be, small is harder, and also this is not a great piece, I can make much better, and even that is nothing on my Master's skill. This is a field piece, one I wouldn't be unwilling to lose. It's not superb but still," and she put her hand back over it, and held it there for a moment. When Ying took it away Shino saw that the terribly evanescent crystalline wings were moving, and that the bug was crawling forward on the ground.

"A puppet?" he asked.

"No, not a puppet," Ying replied. "Though that's close, but there are no strings here. This is a true automaton, one powered by chakra and able to carry out a few instructions on its own. It's a more limited method, but less vulnerable, and there are jutsus to control it directly, but those are very taxing. Still, I'm sure you can see the uses."

Shino only nodded, impressed.

"By the way, your bugs are very interesting little creatures," Ying remarked, shifting topics. "I wasn't easily able to place them, are they hemipterans?"

"Yes," Shino replied, pleased that beyond simply summoning and recognizing insects Ying actually knew something about them. "But we've bred them to be rather different. They were once similar to assassin bugs."

Ying smiled widely, amusement clear on her face. "I should have known."

Though Shino didn't say anything he had to admit that he too found that rather amusing, it was somehow just too stereotypical even if true. However, he knew he must be careful to avoid simply falling into conversation with this stone ninja. There was something more going on here, and he had no intention of being blindsided.

"What do you want here?" he asked her abruptly.

"We had a piece of rather bad luck before, Aburame Shino," Ying answered. "Being assigned the same objective. I wonder if that happened again, and how to avoid fighting you again. I'd rather not do that if possible."

"Why do you think we have the same objective now?" Shino asked, even though he had a good idea himself, he wanted to gauge Ying as best possible. "That is statistically unlikely."

"There's no coincidence when ninja are involved," Ying's smiled vanished completely, as she answered with one of the hundred shinobi sayings. "We were both sent here for a reason, and in response to the information on the same scroll. Also, I think our masters anticipated this, sending each of us alone. Konoha has a strong team structure, just like we do."

"True," Shino muttered cautiously. Then he decided there was no need to be further circular. Ying was clearly able to sort through his silences to some extent, and he could read into her well enough. They were closely matched in more areas than combat it seemed. "Then let's find out. Though if our missions are not the same will you keep the secret?"

"Of course I won't, but I will promise I'll tell you mine as well," Ying replied smartly. "That's a fair trade isn't it?"

"If such a thing even exists," Shino grumbled slightly, prompting a slight giggle from Ying. "Regardless, my mission is to capture a certain missing-nin, Nozu-"

"Hidemoto," Ying completed the name for him. "We have been most thoroughly boxed in."

"Correct," Shino replied, not bothering to state the obvious, that it was impossible to drag one ninja back to both villages.

"Well, what do we do now?" Ying asked, seemingly speaking both to Shino and herself.

"Is it not simply a race?" Shino questioned, stating the conclusion that made the most sense to him.

"You're skipping a step there," Ying replied, her eyes sad. "With those bugs I know you're a better tracker than me. I could just follow you and attack you once you've captured the missing-nin, and you know that too. Hunting each other would limit searching to almost nothing; we'll hamstring each other that way."

Surprised by the keen insight the Aburame nodded, recognizing that working against this young woman would be very difficult indeed. He sat silently for a moment, letting Ying look at him as much as she wished, knowing his face and the black lenses of his sunglasses revealed nothing. Instead he thought through the possibilities, trying to look at as much of the puzzle as he could. Shino had never been like so many of his teammates, to make a decision on the spot with his emotions. He preferred to consider everything logically, searching for the ideal solution as a ninja. It was as when he had pursued Gaara and fought Kankurou, he'd known the sand puppeteer would be his opponent from well before he even left the stadium. Knowing the path in advance made it easier to focus on other problems that occurred down the road. So Shino assembled the puzzles visually in his head, using all the skills of visualization he'd gained from using his bugs in battle. He recognized swiftly that his orders had indeed anticipated this possibility, as his teammates had not been sent, only him alone. He could easily see that Ying's situation was a mirror to his own. There were indeed no coincidences, the two of them had been sent into a situation where an encounter was more likely than not.

As the situation crystallized in his mind Shino saw only a small set of options. Basically it came down to two situations, one was to oppose the girl in front of him, to treat her as an enemy, in which case his greatest chance of success lay in attacking right now with the bugs under the table and the kunai in his hand. The other option was to try and work with her somehow, to search for a solution that split up their objectives, reducing the potential success for either, but greatly increasing the overall chance that at least something would be learned. It was complicated, and would be difficult, but it was not impossible. Reflecting on these options Shino recognized that he would have to make a choice this moment, as would Ying, that would likely cascade down for some time. He looked out through his dark glasses, studying the profile of this strange girl who had not more than two weeks before battled him with life and death on the line. The haft of that potent scythe stretched past her head, a visceral reminder of that moment, and Shino could still hear the ringing from when that weapon connected with his kunai.

Finally Shino had gone through all the variables, and he was still left with two choices, one to strike and seek the full advantage but that offered tremendous risk and the other to accept a reduced success but provided far great options and opportunity. There seemed to be no real advantage either way, and so Shino was left with a choice that could not be considered on logic alone. He could decide either way. It was a free choice and his emotions would decide. Searching those carefully controlled impressions Shino's decision became easy. He really had no desire to fight with Ying at all, even with their violent first encounter between them.

When Shino finally spoke his decision was made, however, he was not about to come right out and state it openly. "What other options are there then?"

"We both have to capture Hidemoto right?" Ying confirmed, and Shino nodded. "Well, we could both work together on that, and why not, I think it would likely double the chance of success. The only trouble is who gets to interrogate him, and why don't we wait until we have him to work that out?"

Now Shino gave his answer, having heard clearly Ying's desire to cooperate in her words. It was easy to recognize that she did not want to fight with him either. "That is possible," even as he spoke Shino reminded himself to be cautious. It would not be acceptable to treat this girl as if she was a Leaf ninja he had just met. That was assuredly not the case, and Ying was not, and could not be considered as an ally. She could become an enemy at any moment. As dark and tragic a thought as it was it was Shino's great hope that Ying was reminding herself of this same thing at that moment.

"Good," Ying smiled again. "Here's to capturing our target as quickly as possible." She stretched out her right hand to him across the table.

Shino's own hand was still at its customary place in his pocket, and he had not quite expected this move, it was rather too personal for his taste. There was also the niggling fact of a kunai still in his right hand. Calmly, however, Shino dropped the kunai into his pocket and withdrew his hand. He brought it up slowly, not really wanting to shake Ying's but with a greater urge to avoid being discourteous to her. He couldn't place that feeling, but he didn't bother with it much. With a careful motion he took her hand in his own.

Ying's hands were thin, but not delicate. Shino could feel the marks of weapon work on them, but also finer lines, ones he assumed must come from working with glass. In a rather spontaneous action he decided to do something unusual, and as they brought their hands back up he let the kikai bugs creep out over his hand and Ying's.

She jolted the moment the bugs' feet made contact with her skin, but it was in surprise, not fear. By that reaction Shino confirmed her comfort with bugs, something he found greatly pleasing. Even his teammates were not so easy with the creatures even after a great amount of time.

"That tingles," Ying smiled softly. "Does it mean they agree to work together as well?"

Willing the bugs to crawl back inside his body, Shino only shrugged again, a slight motion of his shoulders that raised his jacket just enough to be seen.

"In that case, I'm sure we have much to discuss about this mission," Ying's tone dropped easily into that of regular conversation. "Should I start or do you want to?"

Behind the obscuring cowl of his jacket Shino's mouth twitched slightly, almost smiling. This mission had just become more complicated, but it had also become much more interesting.

**Insect Stuff:** the best picture of Shino's kikai in the manga (from the fight with Zaku in chapter 69) makes it unclear exactly what they are. I have chosen to place them in order hemiptera (the true bugs) somewhat arbitrarily (it's quite possible they are supposed to be beetles). However, it allows me to make the assassin bug joke this way. Assassin bugs do exist, their order hemiptera, family reduviidae and are stealthy ambush predators with penetrating forearms. I think it's quite fitting.


	7. Chapter 7 Working Both Angles

**Author's Notes: **Okay, another chapter, I know it's been a while, but this chapter's really long, so maybe that'll partially make up for it. I'll try to maintain a better pace from here on, but I make no guarantees.

Thanks to reviewers!

**Chapter 7 – Working Both Angles**

(Western Clay Country, the next morning)

The inn was awake before dawn, and so was Shino. He did not go insect collecting today of course, since the mission came first, but he was still awake early. The room he had rented was tiny, one of the smallest in the modest establishment, but it did not make its occupant feel cramped as he threw on his jacket and pulled together his gear in a very simple morning preparation. He was down in the small common room taking the very first breakfast of any customer that day almost before the innkeeper was ready to serve it. Shino ate quickly, marking his food down as nourishing, but not caring much beyond that. His family was not much for cooking, the bugs disliking being put near hot substances, so he really didn't have much of a taste for food anymore.

Then Shino was stuck waiting.

This did not surprise the Aburame youth, he had always been ready early, something long trained into him. It had not been unusual for him to wait some time every morning for both his teammates and his sensei before practice began. It was hardly a problem, Shino was good at waiting. In this case he fully expected it would be some time before his new companion joined him, as she was female in addition to not having his discipline as an early riser. It was therefore quite a surprise when Ying came down to the common room only a few minutes later.

Behind his dark glasses Shino eyed his companion carefully, but said nothing. He noted that she appeared almost exactly as she had the day before, with her armored field uniform, scythe, and bearing all readily in place. He was surprised slightly, and it was a positive sort of surprise.

"Didn't expect me so early?" Ying quirked an eyebrow at Shino as she sat down. "It takes a bit of time to get this uniform together and clean hair, but my master always made me stoke the fire at the earliest of the morning. It's no big deal on nice days, but those winter blizzards, you could not imagine the cold."

"It gets very cold in Stone Village?" Shino questioned, seeing that Ying wished to eat her breakfast without discussing real business.

"You must know our village is high in the mountains," Ying replied. "Konoha only gets a little snow each winter, but we get foot after foot of white coating, all icy and chill from blowing over the glaciers. The cold is one of the reasons crafts are so much more common in snow," Ying explained carefully, talking easily, as if Shino were someone she had known for a long time, not a foreign ninja she had only truly met the day before. "There's little ninja work to be done in the winter with everything closed down, so we must find other ways to pass the time between missions."

Shino nodded, and it did make sense. He could see the advantages to knowing a functioning trade for disguise, economics, and the development of strange styles of fighting as he had seen Ying use when they fought. Even in Konoha, with a mild climate, winter greatly reduced the work the ninja performed.

"You really aren't very talkative, are you Shino?" Ying asked spontaneously, changing the subject. "It's awfully hard to tell if you're listening with those glasses of yours."

"I'm listening," Shino told her.

"I don't mind doing the talking between us," Ying said softly. "If that's how you'd rather have it, but I hope you'll tell me if I get off track or start to bore you."

"Don't worry," Shino replied, "There's no problem." He paused for a moment, and then felt compelled to add a little more. "I'm used to having a rather…loud teammate. I've learned to deal with talking; your voice is a pleasant change." It was the truth; at least, Shino felt Ying was much easier to listen to than brash Kiba or the constantly nervous Hinata. She was coherent, un-abrasive, and smart, and Shino appreciated all those factors.

"Well, a complement from the dour Aburame," Ying laughed lightly. "How rare," she uttered a faked gasp past the last of her breakfast. After that Ying sat forward, moving closer to Shino on the other side of the table. "Now then, should we get down to business?"

Shino nodded again.

"Alright then, as we determined yesterday, we are both searching for Nozu Hidemoto formerly of Grass Village," Ying began, placing her hands down on the table. "We also found out neither of us has a good description of this man or any real clues as to where he is. That leaves us with a large search area here in the Clay country, and we will need to find someone who knows Hidemoto's whereabouts, preferably by alerting as few people as possible. Then we figured that it would be other missing-nins in this country who know where Hidemoto is hiding, so we have to find a few to ask. At that point we separated to make our own plans and agreed to meet here in the morning. Do I have it all correct?" Ying's tone was pleasant, but just suggestive enough that Shino knew a nod would not suffice as a response.

Somewhat irritated at the demand for acknowledgement, but recognizing that they should communicate clearly if this collaboration was to be sustained, Shino replied. "Yes, that's all."

"So, what'd you come up with?" Ying asked and her eyes flashed with curiosity. "Your bugs figure out anything interesting?"

"You know I was tracking chakra sources," Shino remaindered her. "After putting all the reporting of my kikai together I found a concentration of some number in a close area in the northeast."

"Northeast?" Ying blinked, her bright eyes seeming to gleam as the morning sun passed through the screened windows. "That's good. I did some talking, and all the merchants say the rowdiest town around here is a port to the northeast. It's apparently a pretty nasty place, which explains why the stodgy captain who brought me here landed elsewhere."

"You came by ship?"

"Would I have walked all the way from Stone this fast Shino?" Ying smiled. "You know better than that."

"True," Shino did, it had simply surprised him. "I'm not fond of the sea." He added as justification for the odd comment.

"Oh," Ying turned her head in thought. "Oh, no insects, right?"

Shino nodded.

"I guess that makes sense," she muttered, then brightened. "Well, a port's not the sea, and it'll probably be pretty nasty, I doubt there'll be any shortage of insects there, which should be helpful."

"So you suggest we travel to this seedy port?" Shino asked to confirm.

"It seems like the best idea. I was looking for places missing-nins might go for work, the kind of small lousy jobs ninja from villages wouldn't take. This town seemed like the right place, and if your kikai bugs confirm it, then," she shrugged; lifting the glossy should pieces of her armored uniform to glint and shift in room's light. "Why not?"

"Very well," Shino answered. "Do you know the name of this town?"

"Ichitito."

"Then we will head there, I can send kikai to scout ahead, but I suppose we will simply have to walk." Shino stood up slowly. "It can't be much more than a day's travel to the coast."

"If we make good time we ought to get there by nightfall," Ying said as she stood as well. "Are we both ready?"

Shino nodded, and they headed out into the spring morning.

"Do you mind if I ask a fairly personal question?" Ying asked hesitantly after they had walked for about an hour. The morning was pleasant and sunny, with a light breeze keeping it cool even as they walked down the hard roads.

Shino shrugged. He wasn't sure what he wished to tell this girl. She was an interesting person certainly, and he had many questions of his own he would like to ask, but he was cautious. He continually reminded himself that she was not a ninja of his country. That it was a stone forehead protector, and not a leaf one, she wore.

"Um, well," Ying stumbled. "It's just, I wondered about those kikai. I mean, what's it like, to live like that?" She paused, her face turning down as if something horrible had just occurred to her. "Oh, I don't mean to ask about clan secrets or anything it's just…well…it's really unusual. I can't help asking, sorry."

"Don't apologize," Shino told her. "It's an interesting question." Indeed, it was, for Shino wasn't really certain he'd ever been asked that before. His family of course, had no need to ask, they understood, but everyone else was usually too intimidated or horrified by the nature of his bond with the kikai to wonder about how they affected him. Ever Kiba and Hinata had always simply just sort of acknowledged the kikai and seemed to consider discussing them outside of battle taboo. "Very interesting."

"Please don't feel pressed to answer," Ying said immediately. "I shouldn't have asked."

"No," Shino responded to himself, and then removing his mouth from deep inside his jacket spoke so she could hear fully. "No, that's alright. Let me think about my answer for a little while."

"Oh, alright," Ying still seemed embarrassed.

They went on for a while, quiet, saying nothing more than the few necessary things between travelers, pointing out bends and obstacles in the road, or noting things only people of their interest would care for, the appearance of an unusual beetle, or dragonfly, or perhaps a bee. Shino, watching Ying, could see that she still felt bad about her earlier question, and gradually he came to recognize that if he did not answer her she would continue to feel as if she had offended him even when she had simply surprised him. Eventually he decided he would talk to her about it, it simply took him a while to work up his nerve.

At length they stopped for lunch. Each ate a prepackaged meal, one taken from the inn in the morning. Such meals were fairly unappetizing, but both ninja ate with vigor, knowing they must keep up their strength for the potentially dangerous days to come.

They took their break on a wide shelf of stone somewhat back from the roadside. From such a position they were unlikely to be bothered by other travelers, and Shino felt a little more secure. So, when Ying put down her lunch, he began to speak.

"I have thought about your question," he started. "Are you willing to take this break to listen?"

"It is your story," Ying replied, but she was not idle as she sat. Instead she took her scythe from where it lay beside her. The weapon could not be worn in its back harness while she sat, and so Ying had placed it next to her, always in easy reach. Now she laid it across her lap, and took out a small file from her pockets. Slowly she began to sharpen the long edge of the weapon, moving with careful care and delicacy.

Shino watched Ying's hands move smoothly over her weapon for a moment, allowing the file's motion to build a rhythm, and then he started to talk. "It was a hard question you asked, about the kikai. I have never lived without them, so I do not know what it would be like otherwise. They are bonded with us at birth."

Ying nodded, and Shino saw that she was listening intently to his words even as her steady brown eyes focused on her blade.

"I suppose it is like having as extra arm or leg in a way, if you can imagine that," Shino said slowly. "The kikai give me the ability to do things other people cannot do. They listen and see and tell me things I would not otherwise know, they provide links for movement, and defend and are capable of so much more. Yet, for all they do, the kikai mark us out. They scare people, and intimidate them. It is alienating, a power that shocks even seasoned ninja, to know that they live within us."

"Are you ever alone?" Ying asked, turning to stare into Shino's dark sunglasses for a moment.

"It's not like that," Shino replied, more easily now, for this was a question that had a concrete explanation. "The kikai have a sort of intelligence, how much I won't say, but they are not like people. Their voices are not like speech, I simply know things through the bond with them. So, it is not like there is another person inside me. As for the feeling, it is something I don't notice anymore, the legs of the kikai are like my own skin."

"That's very interesting, really, thank you," Ying told Shino, and she bowed her head graciously. "I just couldn't help but ask about it some, and I confess I'll probably have more questions."

"That's alight," Shino replied, though he was somewhat hoarse, he was not used to talking so much. "Now, I have my own question."

"Oh?" Ying smiled, staring at Shino with a disarming look in her smart eyes. "I suppose that's fair. Though surely I'm more boring than you."

"Perhaps," Shino said with a flicker of amusement. "Your weapon, however, is quite the mystery. It is unusual." Shino understated the remark greatly. It was indeed an odd weapon, of a kind he had never seen another ninja carry, and it was made and marked in a strange way.

"This?" Ying hefted the scythe slightly. "I suppose so, though maybe it looks better than it is. It was my master's, though he didn't fight with it. He gave it to me because he thought I was 'suited to it' whatever that means. Oh, it's called Oblivion."

"Oblivion?" Shino let the remark slip free, even as he wondered at the meaning of such a name. "Powerful."

"Not really," Ying shook her head. "Like I said, it looks better than it is. It doesn't mould chakra or empower special techniques or anything like that. This blade is very old; my master said it might be two hundred years or more."

That was very old indeed, as Shino reflected immediately. Such a time was ancient history to the ninja, an era before the world of the villages, before even the known history of the great ninja wars, a period about which much knowledge had been lost. Shino also noted the fine condition of the weapon Ying carried. For something two hundred years old it had held up extremely well, and while it might not have the imbued powers of certain ninja weapons, it was certainly a masterful piece of workmanship.

"I don't know much about it beyond that, sorry," Ying looked a bit glum. "Wish I did, but there's not much known about the weapon, or at least that's what my master said. All I know is how to fight with it."

"It does suit you," Shino remarked, and then he stood, signaling both that he had heard all he needed and that it was time to get back to their travels.

Ying smiled, and replaced Oblivion in its harness, strapping the great scythe to her back and following her leaf companion.

"So this is the place then?" Ying asked with a sour note.

"Yes," Shino's tone was not more enthused than his stone companion's.

It was, in the simplest terms, a brothel, though it claimed to be simply a drinking establishment. This meant, of course, that it was an illegal brothel of some kind, and that various illicit businesses would occur on the premises. All of that would have been nothing more than a fully legitimate reason for the two young ninja to avoid the place except for one simple fact.

All of the six chakra sources Shino's bugs had traced in this miserable port town were inside at the moment.

The fine spring day had become a cold spring evening, and the northern sea was foggy and chill. It was not a nice night to be out, and all the wise people were inside. At the moment the only people left here on the docks in the cold where unfortunate guards, even more unfortunate drunks, and Shino and Ying, staring at the brothel's sign in disappointment.

"Okay," Ying said after a chill wind swept past. "We have to go in. A little henge can disguise our ages, but we need a more thorough cover." She turned to Shino with a failing dour expression. "Any good ideas?"

"It's a bar and a brothel," Shino said cautiously, his speech unusually hesitant. "I can pretend to be drinking."

"Um," Ying looked at him funny. "Have you been trained to deal with sake? I don't think a bit of sipping will fool ninja who frequent this type of place."

"I can have the kikai deal with it, they'll remove the alcohol," Shino stopped, and then continued. "However, it will make many of them drunk. My effectiveness will be sharply reduced."

"Oh," Ying made certain to avoid giggling. "You're sure you want to do that, we can try something else?"

"It's alright," Shino responded, hiding his hesitation. Ying's concern, though he brushed it aside, was something he was clearly thinking about. He knew his bugs would become drunk fairly easily, and that could be a problem. While any intoxicated bugs could be held inside his body, Shino knew having any of the bugs drunk would upset the colony. The whole situation was one his father had warned him to always approach very cautiously, as it was highly vulnerable, a disrupted colony would only hesitantly obey commands. However, Shino saw no real option, he only wished either he or Ying were old enough to have been trained in dealing with sake at this point. It was an added complication to an already difficult situation.

"If you say so," Ying broke into Shino's thoughts. "I guess that makes me your girl then, to complete the deception. I suppose I have to play the street tramp then."

Now it was Shino's turn to look at his companion. He said nothing, but Ying was frozen beneath that gaze for a second.

"No, really," she spoke softly. "I can do it, and I'll keep things clean, trust me with this."

That cut to the heart of the matter, there were six ninja inside, and likely all of them were missing-nins or clan ninja. They would not look kindly on being bothered by ninja from the villages, and if either Shino or Ying chose they could likely betray their companion to the combined wrath of the six. Shino nodded in response to Ying's comment, believing indeed that he could trust her for this. He had to, since he was the one taking the greatest risk. Still, he intended to keep his escape routes as open as possible, and had placed a smoke bomb in easy reach under his coat.

"Let's go," Shino said.

"Right," Ying brought her hands together. "Henge."

Shino called out the command at the same time as the stone ninja, molding chakra to create a transformative illusion about himself. He altered his appearance only slightly, increasing his height and lengthening his coat while removing his forehead protector from the image he presented. It was a simple enough disguise, one aided by his non-standard uniform. A long green coat was not remarkable. Automatically Shino left his sunglasses in place in the technique, even though they would be suspicious.

When Shino turned to look at Ying he was surprised. His illusionary alterations had been small, hers were substantial. Her armored skirt and plating had becoming a suggestively clinging dress wrapping about her in an improper fit. Her face was decked with gaudy but cheap makeup, and her hair had shifted from its normal soft brown to a glossy, oily, black. The always present scythe, Oblivion, vanished under the illusion's protection. Yet, looking at Ying Shino felt he could still recognize her. He looked at her otherwise completely altered appearance to see that her eyes remained the same. The intelligence and brightness he had always seen there remained, the only part of her image that did not conform to the street whore's costume. The insect wielding ninja somehow appreciated that, it made him more comfortable with the whole situation, even though he knew it was almost certainly simply an accident of the jutsu.

Their disguises prepared, they entered the brothel.

It was a tacky place, not really a bar and not really a brothel, but something in between and worse for the mixing. Dirty tables lay scattered about a smoky and dirty hall, with two stages on the sides and a long bar in back. Though the stages were ostensibly for dancing or music, girls painted with more tacky gloss than Ying's disguised form lay scattered about them, making bored and casual affectations to men who happened to look at them. The tables lay on the dirt floor surrounded either by low chairs or cushions, and many stained with the residue of old sake or blood. The bar in back was built sturdy, most likely for the owner and servers to hide behind when things went bad. It was, Shino decided swiftly, a torrid establishment indeed.

He moved to a table on the eastern side, taking Ying along with him. She hovered about him in a possessive way, making dark scowls at all the other girls as she did so. The effort she put into the disguise impressed Shino even as having her do so made him uncomfortable. It became instantly clear that this was something he would most assuredly avoid in reality later in life.

Once at the table, and with a quick order for sake of some strength, Shino felt a little more secure. Ying sat close by him, moving her chair till it scrapped against his own. The proximity was not pleasant, for Shino generally preferred having a space between him and others, especially when observed, but it would enable them to whisper to each other easily. Silently he let a few of his bugs loose to scout out which of the people in this place where the ninja he had detected earlier. The brothel was hardly full, for it was still early in the evening, and only a handful of girls waited on the stages. The small groups of men about their tables presently seemed more interested in their sake and bits of dice gaming than the women.

When the sake came Shino made certain it was seen that he drank down a full cup immediately. The moment the liquid passed his lips, however, he was already directing his bugs to draw the harsh alcohol from the foul-tasting liquid, to keep him ready and functioning. Ying took a cup as well, but made only a fake sip, something the men ignored and the women expected, for the whore must remain sober if she intends to collect her money when the night is done.

The glasscrafter leaned in against Shino, and whispered to him. She had exaggerated her edge of noble polish to complete her disguise, and it made her voice sound eerily haughty when she spoke, but her words went directly to business. "So, which ones are they?"

Shino waited a moment, allowing his bugs to confirm and identify all of the six ninja. He gazed slowly around the room without moving his head, eyes scanning invisibly behind those dark sunglasses. "Two men near the bar, three men two tables down on the left, and the girl in back right." It was a quick catalogue, but Ying slowly, and as if she was only idly looking past her sake cup, scanned them in turn.

The two men at the bar were clearly clan ninja, for they sat as if the place was their home, and their clothes held together well, with only minimal wear. They were also allowed to sit close to the front, a place of trust, so they belonged in this place. The other three were different, their clothes and faces had a ragged edge, the edge of men who had passed only barely through the winter, and had many difficulties. Their faces had none of the strong resolve of secure ninja, but instead had a desperate malice about them, men who would commit any sin for a price that would buy their vices now, men who had forsaken honor and duty, and were now something less than ninja, but with all the dangerousness of them.

Now, it was the girl who seized Shino's curiosity, and he saw that Ying spent a long moment examining her as well. Her whore's outfit and paint was clearly not henge, it stuck to her body too well, and his bugs could smell the paints and perfumes on her when they approached close enough, but she was obviously a ninja, it was clear both from her chakra and the way she moved, skilled and capable. Shino was puzzled by the disguise, for he could not conceive of a reason why any ninja, even a missing-nin, should denigrate herself so far.

"We need to talk to the girl," Ying told her companion a moment later.

Shino nodded, that had been his impulse as well, but he was not certain what the reason was, so he whispered a question to Ying. "Why should she be most important?"

"She's obviously sleeping with the ninja to learn their secrets," Ying giggled in a fake whore laugh. "Don't know much about women do you?" she muttered. "It's a common way for those who don't value their bodies to learn information." At Shino's accusatory look Ying immediately became defensive. She smacked his arm lightly. "Not me, don't think that way, but I know, it's mentioned in a kunoichi's training, and I did live at court for a little while. Anyway, we need a lever to get her to talk."

"You mean something we can exchange," Shino interjected, beginning to put the situation together. "Hidemoto's location is probably not that valuable to her, so a small favor will do."

Ying nodded. "Makes sense, but what is there?" She fell silent in thought for a moment.

Shino took another drink of sake, noting that with the bugs to remove the alcohol it really was probably a singularly terrible experience, especially given the cheap sake he was being serves. He directed his few scouting bugs to watch the girl closely, and after a moment they reported something interesting. "She's irritated," he whispered to Ying.

"Huh?"

"The ninja whore, she's tapping her finger repeatedly against the stage," Shino explained, somewhat bothered that it was necessary.

"Hmm…" Ying's eyes narrowed as she looked at the woman, and then she gazed out at the men at the tables. "Ah…I see, she wants to get rid of one of them."

Now it was Shino who needed an explanation. "You mean?"

"Simple, there's one man she intends to deal with tonight, but there's somebody else here who will probably try to pull her aside, which would not only ruin her plans, but it would be a miserable situation indeed," Ying understated things carefully, even though her voice held her disgust at the whole idea.

It was something for Shino to think about, dark though the subject was. He looked at the men there, the five ninja; for surely it was one of them who would get in the way. A ninja, even disguised as a whore, could easily deflect the advances from a simple drunkard without revealing herself. One would be the target, and one the obstacle. With that realization Shino discovered a path to the information they needed. "So, we figure out which one she wants removed and pick a fight."

"You want to get thrown out?" Ying questioned.

"It will allow you to make the situation clear to her, won't it?" Shino remarked ignoring the real nature of Ying's comment.

"I guess, but are you sure you're catching all that sake?"

Shino was sure. He could clearly feel the jumbled ramblings of the drunken kikai bugs inside him, rolling about foolishly. It was keeping him extremely alert indeed. Ying's concern was a bit disarming, he was hardly certain he would care if she involved herself in such a deception. Still, he had to admit that there was a risk, if he was not careful he could end up in a very deadly fight with several ninja, instead of a stupid tavern brawl. However, Shino expected nothing of the kind would happen. He looked at the two clan ninja sitting beside the bar, knowing that so long as it was not one of them he would need to fight then they would keep things under control. "I'm prepared, let's go."

"Wait," Ying touched his arm. "You don't know…"

"I'll force the issue," Shino stood, forcing himself to ignore Ying's hesitation, confident he was making the right choice.

He strode casually over to the female ninja, wobbling a little as he walked, making it appear as if he was actually drunk, instead of quite sober. However, his stride was quick enough, and he was in front of the girl shortly.

She was a short girl, and pretty, in a tacky and whorish way, and therefore Shino found her really rather unappealing. Still, he could see that she was also a trained ninja, for her muscles were strong and her movements fluid, and there were clearly hidden weapons under her suggestive robes. "Yes?" she lifted an eyebrow as Shino approached.

"You seem bored," he said, not bothering to change his usual tone, but letting his voice slur just slightly. "Care to join me instead of sitting here?"

"Haven't you already got company?" she asked, putting her sleeve in front of her painted mouth.

"Oh, her?" Shino replied casually. "She's proving too boring, you seem more interesting."

"Well," she moved her sleeve a little lower. "So you're looking for excitement, hmm…it seems some may have found you." She raised her hand to point behind him.

Shino spun in an alarm that was much less feigned than he actually intended. With almost all his bugs held inside his body, he had only a few scouts to warn him, and so the others had gotten much closer than he had expected before he'd become aware of their presence. Shino immediately marked the weakness down as something he must overcome, and soon, before facing the situation.

Two ninja stood before him, two of the men from the table of three. Their other companion was still seated with a rather disgusted look on his face. Of the two men before him Shino noted that one was filled with anger and the other simply looked amused. It was easy enough to figure out that only one of them need be his opponent, the other would simply watch as long as he was not struck directly. Both men were grungy, but in good form, and they wore scratched and pitted forehead protectors from Waterfall.

"You're playing with something that doesn't belong to you, glasses boy," the angry one muttered, his breath rancid with sake.

Shino had intended to pick a fight calmly and easily, but he really disliked being called 'glasses boy.' He would not recognize until after he acted just how much irritation had been building inside him the whole evening, and why he had embarked on such a dangerous course of action until it was too late.

The Aburame ninja did not simply throw a punch, he was well aware even as angry as he was that his henge disguise would not hold up to hand to hand combat. So instead, he grabbed a chair and swung as he answered the man's taunt. "Then perhaps I'll change the ownership!"

The low chair swung easily in Shino's hands and the object was large enough that even though the missing-nin crossed his arms and blocked he still grunted with the pain of the strike.

It was only when the other man grabbed a chair of his own and hurled it at Shino's head that the insect wielding ninja felt the aggravation dissipate away. He recognized now that though he was not drunk, the squirming of drunken kikai inside him had disturbed his usual calm tremendously, and combined with the atmosphere he'd simply seized on the opportunity that would allow him to leave as swiftly as possible, never mind that he was risking a beating and possibly worse.

Shino blocked the thrown chair with his own, and then pulled a sake bottle from the floor and threw it at the missing-nin. Glass and liquid sprayed everywhere as the man threw a table in the way. The girls on the stage screamed in mock shock, and the other patrons grumbled, shouted, or cheered, depending on their mood. Still, as Shino circled the other man, each now wielding a metal serving tray, he saw two important things happen. First, Ying had left their table and was slowly creeping along the edge of the room towards the disguised kunoichi, who was watching with cruel laughter hidden behind her long sleeves. Second, the two clan ninja sitting at the bar had turned around, and seemed almost ready to get up.

That was a most important signal. Shino decided it was time to do enough damage so that they would react. He advanced on the missing-nin, raising the flat metal tray high.

The other man moved well enough, but he was actually drunk, while Shino was not. So, while he blocked the tray's first blow, he was not prepared for Shino to hook a cushion with his foot and push it behind his leg. The man's foot came back over the cushion, and he stumbled just for a moment.

The coarse metal tray smashed into his face with a loud thud.

Reeling, the missing-nin stumbled backwards, shouting curses, and drawing a kunai from somewhere on his body.

Shino shuffled back at that move, recognizing that things had just taken a significant step up in danger.

Then the missing-nin grunted, and collapsed in a heap.

Shino saw a gigantic hammer made of dirt on the floor next to him. He recognized immediately what was about to happen, and his eyes flashed behind his glasses to the clan ninja who had moved almost instantly to stand far on his left. The seals were clear enough to see as the very same jutsu was invoked.

It would have been easy enough to dodge, probably even if Shino had actually been intoxicated, but that would have just made things worse. So instead he waited for the ninja to complete his move and let the hammer come.

Judiciously Shino moved at the last moment to take the blow on his left shoulder, even though the henge disguise made that appear to be his neck. He concentrated through the pain of the blow to maintain the disguise, and let himself fall to the floor.

A moment later the ninja kicked him in the side, and Shino allowed himself to grunt with a very legitimate pain from the kick to his hips, but held the illusion even as he unsteadily got to his knees.

"Get out, right now," the clan ninja said in terms that brooked no argument.

"Yeah," Shino slurred. "Sure, as you say." He stumbled, only partly in deception, out the door.

The waterfall missing-nin was thrown out onto the street beside him.

Standing outside in the cold spring evening Shino could only note that his part was done. The dangerous plan had worked so far, even as he recognized there had likely been a better way. He resolved to listen more to Ying's recommendations, and also to not let the kikai get drunk again any time soon. From there he could only hope the stone ninja remained true to her word and carried out the plan.

"Not the flashiest fight, but it seems to have worked," Ying muttered casually from the corner next to the whore disguised ninja.

"Worked?" she remarked with a false amusement. "It got your breadwinner thrown out."

"Breadwinner?" Ying laughed a little. "Is that the official term courtesans use?"

"Hardly," the ninja's eyes narrowed. "But then, you ought to know that yourself."

"Oh, surely you've guessed my true purpose already," Ying's reply was equally to the point, and she met that narrow stare firmly, not intending to be intimidated. This woman was going to give her information, and if her disguise was penetrated, so was the other's.

"I suppose," it was a tired sigh. "So, that man was your teammate then. Such a brave and foolhardy thing to do, but what makes you think I care?" There was a subtle mockery in the ninja's tone.

"That might have worked on him, but don't think I can't tell when a woman wants to avoid sleeping with such a detestable man," Ying replied offhandedly, not even looking at the other ninja anymore.

She growled, but sat silent for a moment after. "Alright, suppose that's true, why should it mean anything? It's not like I owe you for the favor."

"Oh, true, I suppose, but that man is now outside with my teammate," Ying said cuttingly. "I'm sure it would be unpleasant to have him learn of your deep seated dislike." Of course, Ying suspected Shino had no plans to bother the other ninja at all, he wouldn't think like a woman in this matter, but she could make the suggestion all the same. She knew her skills at deception were not the best, but it was not as if this was a great trial.

The other woman reacted with a look of mock horror. "That would indeed be cruel. I suppose I might offer a small…inducement to prevent such a thing from disrupting my evening."

"Ah good, you are most amenable. Woman in our profession should be courteous to each other after all," Ying said that last so others could hear, starting a mad session of giggling and villainous looks all along the stage. The disguised ninja smiled, ceding the point.

"Well then, what can a kind and simple lady like myself do for you?" she asked Ying.

"Oh, I was simply wondering if you knew an acquaintance of mine, Nozu Hidemoto," Ying replied. "I had been hoping to deliver some news to him from an old friend.

"Hidemoto?" she appeared to consider. "Oh, that little nervous man from Grass country. Ah, yes, he used to come here often, though I've not seen him in a while. I think he went west, to some little border town, oh, the name, I can't remember Kan-something or other."

"Oh, well, that helps some," Ying replied. She figured there couldn't be that many towns in the hills to the west, so it should be easy enough to identify even from this partial clue. However, there was one more piece of information she wished. "Is he still wearing his grass uniform? He seemed so attached to it."

"No, no, it got all ripped up over the winter, but he had some nice new clothes the last time he was here, a funny thing actually," the disguised ninja paused, and brought her sleeve up to her face, considering that bit herself, as she had obviously not before. "He did still have the forehead protector though, foolish man. If you see him, do tell him I'd like to speak with him, would you?"

"Of course," Ying answered, uncertain whether to take the request seriously or not. "My thanks."

Her task done the stone ninja made her way slowly to the door, making all manner of underhanded remarks about how hard it would be to get any money out of 'that lazy drunkard' now. Most of the patrons granted her a round of mocking laughter, and then ignored her, including the two clan ninja who had thrown Shino out earlier.

Once she left it took Ying only a moment to find Shino, sitting against the wall of a warehouse across the street.

"Well?" he asked her simply as she approached.

"There's enough to work with," she answered. "You alright?"

"Yes," Shino replied. "A bit bruised, that's all. Good that it worked. You were probably right, this wasn't the best plan."

"Maybe," Ying replied, surprised by the leaf ninja's revelation. He normally seemed so confident and self-assured. It was something new to hear him admit to a mistake. "But it worked, so it's alright. Now, let's find an inn and get out of this cold wind."

"Right," Shino replied with an obvious eagerness.

**Insect Stuff:** As Ying states, there really are no insects found in marine environments (though dragonflies might fly far out to see, they aren't native to the habitat). Crustaceans are found there instead; therefore Shino doesn't really like the ocean. Also, yes, insects can get drunk, alcohol affects them fairly similarly to us (though their circulatory system is different so it probably goes around the body differently).


	8. Chapter 8 Living with the Dead

**Author's Notes: **And now for another chapter. Perhaps not as fast I would have liked but it's an improvement of the last one. This is another pretty big chapter, so enjoy.

Thanks, to all reviewers!

**Chapter 8 – Living with the Dead**

(Clay/Rice Border – Afternoon the Next Day)

It was a warm spring morning in the rough hills that marked the boundary between the small countries of Clay and Rice. The area was unremarkable in most ways, a series of farmers scrabbling out their lives on rice terraces, intermixed with open pit mines where the clay was taken from the hills to be brought back to cities downstream. The clay was destined to be made into many things, but it was crafted only where there was water and people, not in these distant areas. So even though this land was close to prosperous towns it was a still a wild area, and forests dark and old darted up and down the clay soiled valleys.

Ying had no interest in those forests for now. Instead she was focused on the small town of Kanrico below her. The stone ninja and her leaf companion had spent the morning walking out to this quiet region from the coast, traveling southwest, and now they had reached the destination a quick map glance had revealed. Looking down from above it was clear that Kanrico was a town built upon the export of clay, and mines and diggings could be seen in the hills beyond. The clay was brought back into the town and then transported further, to be fired in the kilns of more prosperous places below. Despite being the first link in the chain of export, however, there was still money available, money enough to bring ninja.

"So, if that woman can be believed our quarry should be near this village," Ying told Shino, who crouched to her right.

The Aburame youth only nodded and Ying wondered once more about this strange and dour ninja. Most of the time he seemed simply composed, and his few words hinted at a bright mind and great awareness from behind those dark glasses he always wore, but it was hard to gauge. Recalling what had happened the night before Ying was almost shocked in how much trust he had placed in her. He had been almost knocked out, and his bugs, his greatest weapon, incapacitated. She could have taken the information and run, but he had trusted her not too. That thought had led Ying down a dangerous path of inquiry, for she now recognized that she had never even considered betraying the Leaf ninja. At first she chalked it up to the Tsuchikage's order to work with him, but she had soon recognized that was not the truth. Ying caught herself watching Shino as he moved, wondering about him. The puzzle behind the young insect-wielding ninja intrigued her, as did the boy himself. She suspected it would be hard to turn her back on him until she solved that puzzle, and that was dangerous.

"Are you sure you're completely alright?" Ying asked Shino once more, repeating her question from when they met for breakfast.

"Yes, I'm fine," Shino answered flatly. "It was only a simple mistake. Also," he added with a slight lift. "It seems kikai bugs do not get hangovers."

"Really?" Ying smiled. "How lucky for them."

"I suppose," despite Ying's best attempts she could not tell if Shino was smiling or not, that long green coat hid his expression completely.

"We should get closer," Shino said after a moment.

"You have something in mind?" Ying asked.

"The woman told you Hidemoto still had his forehead protector," Shino explained, somewhat tiredly. "If we can find a place to sit in the town I will send the bugs to look for that image."

Ying frowned at Shino's tone. She was beginning to pick up that he really didn't like to explain his method of operations. From that she resolved to try and figure him out enough so he wouldn't have to, besides, Ying reasoned, it would be good if they could anticipate each others moves if they had to fight together. "Alright, we can see if they have a restaurant for travelers," she replied. "There should be one on the clay side of town."

Shino nodded, and the pair headed down to the town.

There was indeed a restaurant in the town. It was small, cheap, and dirty, but it was also bustling. Ying asked a passerby about this and was informed that the weather had just warmed even that clay digging was about to begin, and many merchants were in town to set up arrangements. It was somewhat bothersome, but Ying and Shino were left in a table in the wind and generally ignored by their servers.

The moment after they sat down Ying saw the bugs in action from up close for the first time. She watched the dark little kikai slip out from the holes in Shino's body, crawl out into the road, and take flight. They dispersed widely in great number, more than she had thought his body could possibly contain. After a few minutes a bug crept back, and then left again, and this process continued, bugs reporting and leaving again. It all occurred in seemingly absolute silence, or at least nothing Ying could hear, and Shino did not move at all. However, as fascinating as it was for a time, Ying swiftly became bored watching something she could not hear or understand at all, especially when it became clear there would be no swift answer.

"Aren't you bored?" she asked Shino eventually.

"Bored?" Shino sounded truly surprised, as if he almost forgotten Ying's presence entirely. "No, the bugs' reports are nearly constant. It's like walking through the village myself, except with many bodies at once. At least, that's the best I can describe it."

"Oh," Ying blushed, feeling slightly foolish for such a ridiculous question. "Well, I guess that keeps you busy, but I need to pass the time somehow." She reached down into a pouch that hung next to her scythe's harness. From there she pulled a small box and tightly bound brown cloth bag. With care she placed both on the table, and then shook it to make certain it was sturdy. Satisfied that the table would serve, Ying put her hand in the cloth bag and pulled out a small piece of glass. It appeared to be little more than a misshapen blob at this point to the untrained eye, but to Ying it was the beginning of her latest piece.

Placing the block of glass on the table Ying opened the box, revealing an exquisite little set of cutters, drills, and other tools for the shaping of glass. "May I?" she asked Shino.

He shrugged.

So Ying began, shaping and cutting piece by piece, starting at one end and moving down, gradually revealing sharp lines and curves, chipping away pieces of waste to reveal the object within. As she worked she carefully focused the chakra in her hands, occasionally using precise applications of chakra to move her tools or the glass in special ways. It was a laborious method, for each cut or drilling had to be precisely charted in her mind, marked on the glass with a special chalk, and then cut. At first the pure eye was enough to serve, but eventually, working on something of this detail, Ying was forced to drop the lenses under her forehead protector over her eyes, magnifying the glass she worked on greatly with a steady stream of chakra.

A long time passed, as Ying lost herself in the work, losing track of everything going on around her. Like so many craftsmen she was able to push the outside world to the edge of her awareness, so that she need only react in a true crisis. Otherwise everything else could be focused on her artwork.

However, something would interrupt her this time.

"What is it?" Shino's voice intruded forcefully into Ying's awareness, forcing her to stop lest she ruin her next cut.

She looked up to find that the Leaf ninja had not moved, even though the sun had shifted and evening was fast approaching. Shino was staring at her with those glasses-blanketed eyes, lenses that always seemed to demand answers while offering none.

"Well, it's a glass insect," Ying answered, irritated at Shino interrupting what had been such a productive session. She could feel the mood slipping away, and she suspected she would not make much more progress today. "A hornet actually, though I thought you could guess that much."

Shino coughed lightly. "Umm, no, what I meant was, the face looks unusual, what is the species?"

Ying felt her irritation melt away completely with that question, and she laughed suddenly. "Of all the things you ask it's that?" She looked down at her semi-formed sculpture. "It's barely formed enough to even ask a question like that. Why would you ask such a thing?"

"I've never seen a hornet that looks like that before," Shino answered.

"Really?" Ying was surprised. "But it's quite common up…" she paused recognizing what she was saying. "In the mountains. So, perhaps you don't have them down near Konoha?"

"It seems not," Shino nodded.

"Hmm…" Ying took a look at her sculpture. "The face is different from the hornets found lower down. We call these Black-bark Hornets, because their nests are found on conifer trunks."

"Interesting," Shino replied. "There may be many such differences in the insects we know. It would be a good comparison."

Ying thought about it for a moment. She did find it to be an appealing idea. It was obvious that Shino surely knew a great deal about Konoha's insects, and maybe even some of the stranger ones from the southern Sand and Rivers countries that she'd always wanted to carve. Insects were something they could definitely talk about without delving into the secrets of their villages as well, a true bonus. The stone ninja was surprised she hadn't thought about it earlier. "Well, it certainly seems like a good id-"

Shino had raised his hand in front of her. "The kikai have found something."

"Well, what is it?" Ying asked impatiently, not wanting to be interrupted just for that.

"Something disturbing, we need to check it ourselves," he replied.

"Okay, let's go then," Ying stood up immediately, putting her gear away quickly. "It won't be light that much longer."

They were ready in only a few moments, and Shino was already heading into the street as Ying re-secured her scythe and hurried to follow. Her Aburame companion wasn't any taller than she was, but he certainly had a measured and effective stride for someone his height. Ying matched his pace with little enough trouble, but she didn't want to play catch up, especially since it was his bugs they were following.

"What are we looking for?" Ying asked as she caught up to Shino, not wanting to be cut out of the loop.

"There's a warehouse at the edge of town, my bugs saw something suspicious in the cellar," Shino returned briskly.

"Something suspicious?" Ying didn't like that word, not given how much Shino seemed to trust his bugs.

"I want to make absolutely sure before we make any conclusions," he said, ending discussion with those words.

Ying swallowed, wondering, and followed closely.

The warehouse was there, sure enough, a place made for holding the various types of clay and clay powders that were extracted from the hills. It was mostly empty now, so it was unguarded and abandoned. Still, the doors were locked with a fairly secure bolt.

Shino pulled out lockpicks, but Ying wondered if they were necessary.

"Is secrecy important?" she asked him.

"Huh?"

She pulled the scythe, Oblivion, from her back. "Why don't I just wedge a board out of place on the wall, there are some damaged ones over to the left. We won't have to stand around as long."

Shino nodded. "Good idea."

Ying walked over to the walls, tracing her hand along the old wood, long exposed to many winters. Pressing a bit here and there she quickly found a loose board. She slid Oblivion's long blade in behind it, applying just enough force to cut an opening. That done Ying twisted the weapon so the scythe blade was perpendicular to the grain on the inside. Lightly pulling back she felt the blade stick into the wood. After that it was a simple matter of yanking on the haft of the weapon to apply leverage and pull the board loose, opening a space just wide enough for a person to sneak through. "With luck it will only look like some kids messing around with a prybar," Ying commented to Shino as they squeezed through.

They entered the warehouse.

It was dim inside, but not yet dark. Wide, screened windows ran along the upper level, letting a great deal of sun in, enough so men could work freely in the middle of the day. Even now, near sunset, there was enough light to see by, especially for ninja with keen vision in dimness.

Shino headed immediately over to a large door in the floor. This one was not locked. Indeed it was split with so many large cracks and holes that locking would be pointless, so he simply wrenched it open. Pointing down below he jumped down into the dark and stagnant cellar. Ying followed immediately after.

The smell hit her instantly. It was a nasty rotting odor, one she was surprised had not reached her above until she considered the airflow. With refined instinct Ying spun about looking for the source of the decay-ridden smell. It took a moment in the darkness, but she was quickly able to spot the source. Lying tumbled and prone against some stacked clay bricks was a human body.

The tattered clothes on the body could have been from anyone, and the form was decayed enough that it would have been difficult to recognize even for someone who knew the face, but there was no mistaking the bright steel glimmer of a forehead protector wrapped about the right arm, or the jagged symbol of Hidden Grass Village upon it.

"So this is it, huh?" Ying asked with disappointment. "He's dead."

"It appears that way," Shino answered. "When the bugs told me of the smell I was almost certain, but it could have been a very unwashed man in hiding, or a dead animal in here. Confirmation was necessary."

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't help us much," Ying noted. "He's the one we were supposed to interrogate, bet anything, and now he's dead, kind of makes it hard."

Shino didn't respond, but carefully poked the corpse in various places with a kunai. Ying could tell he was searching for hidden documents, or any other thing that might tell them about Hidemoto. He went through the process, but Ying could tell there wasn't anything even from where she stood. The missing-nin had obviously been very down on his luck to begin with.

Then Shino cut away the remnants of the shirt and put his hand of the rotting flesh.

"What are you doing?" Ying gasped.

For a moment the question was just ignored, and Shino continued to look very closely at the body, poking and prodding the flesh in several places. When Ying approached, holding her hand over her nose to soften the smell, he looked up. Ying, looking at Shino and the body, noticed several white little grubs crawling over his hand. It was a strange sight, but she immediately recognized them as some kind of beetle larvae.

"You lenses can magnify, correct?" Shino asked Ying.

"Well yes, but-"

"Can you tell me how many pairs of prolegs this has?" he asked her.

It was a strange request, to count how many of fake, larval form only legs the maggot had, but Ying understood immediately that Shino needed to know in order to identify the larva. She wasn't certain what he was doing, but that much was obvious for anyone trained in the world of insects. "Alright," Ying slipped the lenses over her eyes once more, channeling her chakra to magnify. It was difficult to do in the dim lighting, but she recognized that distinguishing color or fine detail would not be important. So, she held out her hand and let Shino dump one of the maggots into it. As she brought it up toward her face the little white thing squirmed on her hand, and Ying felt strangely disgusted. There was something somehow very wrong about taking a living thing out of a dead man, and she hoped what Shino was doing was important, and not some idle curiosity.

Counting the prolegs was easy enough; there were five pairs of the squishy pseudo-limbs, all behind the normal three thoracic legs. "There are five pairs," Ying told Shino. "I hope that means something."

"It does," he answered. "With those blow flies differentiated and the various other things I found here I can say that this man died nineteen days ago."

"Nineteen? That precisely?" When Shino nodded Ying started doing sums in her head, thinking backwards. Suddenly, the significance of the number nineteen struck her. "That's only the day after the scroll was stolen!" she blurted loudly.

Shino didn't move. "Indeed."

"So," Ying spoke her thoughts aloud. "Someone figured out the scroll was stolen, reasoned that Hidemoto would be targeted, and then killed him to keep his information hidden. Additionally, they did all that in one day, how organized and ruthless."

"It would seem so," Shino replied simply. "It also means our mission is a failure." He struck the cellar's dirt floor softly with his right hand.

"I guess…" Ying muttered, more to herself than anyone else. It did appear that their mission was a more or less complete failure. Hidemoto had been dead since even before either of them had been assigned to find him, there was no way to interrogate him now. "Are you sure there's nothing on the corpse, no sign of who killed him?" Ying already knew the answer, and she realized immediately that he words would only irritate Shino, but she couldn't help asking.

"He was stabbed in the chest, and the forehead protector is the only distinctive mark, but you tell from his hands that he was a ninja," Shino replied. "There's nothing on the body."

Ying understood that a ninja's body could usually be recognized from the calluses of shuriken work on the hands, but it dashed even a slim hope she had. It was crushing to admit defeat here, especially after everything else had gone so well. She searched her mind for any possibilities, any way to salvage something from this preemptive strike against their mission. However, there seemed to be now possibilities, they didn't really know anything about this man, just a name, a country, and that he was a ninja. Beyond that they had only his forehead protector, and the knowledge that he perished nineteen days ago.

Nineteen days ago exactly, Ying seized on that bit of information, and suddenly recalled something. She looked around the room carefully, searching for what she would need, looking everywhere. Then, suddenly, she found it. Up in the door there was a small open panel, obviously designed so someone could look down into the cellar from above. It contained four panes, and three where empty, but the fourth still held the cracked glass it had originally been equipped with.

"You are sure he died nineteen days ago?" Ying asked with sudden excitement.

Shino looked over at her slowly. "Yes, that is the only date that makes any sense."

"Then maybe there is something we can do," Ying replied, and she stood and jumped out of the cellar in a smooth motion. "Come on," she gestured for Shino to follow.

The Aburame ninja did so, though Ying guessed it was more because there was nothing else to see in the cellar than because he believed her.

Ignoring him for a moment Ying went over to the cracked piece of glass in the door. It was old, foggy and clouded, never something truly meant to be seen through clearly. Beyond that the thick glaze of winter's dust covered it. Not hesitating at all, Ying wiped the dust away with the edge of her uniform, and then she took out her glasscutter's kit again. From a small tin within she dabbed her finger in polish and did her best to clean off stains and smudges from the glass. It did not come all that clear, but when she was finished Ying could at least see a hazy reflection of her face in that fragmented pane.

"Hardly ideal, and I am not so skilled at this technique," Ying spoke for Shino's benefit. "But perhaps there may be something I can find."

She saw that Shino was watching her carefully, but as usual the leaf ninja said nothing.

Ying took a thin cutting knife from her glasscutter's case, and slowly, with the utmost care, she carved a seal into the glass. Then she carved another seal atop the first, and then a third and final seal atop that. It was a terribly hard thing to do, for the lines of the previous seals interfered with carving another, but she did her best. The form did not come out perfect, but Ying hoped it would be enough. She placed her hands over the glass pane, and crossed her fingers over it in the form of a seal. Not daring to look her eyes softly closed. Slowly the glasscrafter took in a deep breath, and feeling out the chakra in herself channeled it as she had been taught before by her master. All the while she held clearly in her mind the date of nineteen days past, forcing all other thoughts aside, though she could not avoid a few quivering distractions to her mind. As she let the chakra out from her fingers and into the seals Ying intoned the name of her technique, focusing her energies all the more. "Frozen Mirror's Vision."

Ying opened her eyes, and looked at the old glass pane with fragmented hope. She did not know if she had done well enough.

There was indeed an image frozen there in the glass, called up from the past to freeze a moment once again, a window into the world the glass had seen nineteen days ago. It showed the fallen Hidemoto, as he was even now, though less decayed, and also another figure, a man in brownish garb, garb suited for a ninja. Yet the image was greatly hazy and indistinct, and little more could be seen of the man beyond his outline.

"Damn!" Ying smashed her fist into the door frame, welcoming the pain. She had failed again. It had happened before, she was never able to pull forth an image with the perfect clarity it ought to possess, and in these conditions, with weak lightning and the damaged glass, it had ruined her technique completely. "Nothing useful, nothing!"

"Really?" Shino said softly from next to her. He was surprisingly close, but Ying had been so lost in her own failure that she had not noticed. The Leaf ninja's hand snaked out to rest on the image of the man above Hidemoto. "Isn't this the man who hit me with a clay hammer yesterday?"

Ying looked back to the image, trying to see what Shino had seen. At first she saw nothing distinctive at all, and could not reckon how he had possibly acquired an identity from the image. Then she looked beyond the details, and took in what were there, the clothes, and the profile. Seeing it that way, the hazy, blurry vision did indeed reveal the profile of one of the clan ninja who had struck Shino the night before. "I think," Ying muttered with embarrassment. "You may be right."

"You should not underestimate this technique of yours," Shino told her mildly. "It seems quite useful."

"Well," Ying smiled softly, blinking away the beginnings of tears. "I should actually thank you; it would have been useless if I hadn't known the day he was killed."

"Oh, so that's how it works," Shino stood up then. "Regardless, we now have a clue."

"What are you planning?" Ying asked suspecting she knew already.

"If we cannot interrogate our original target, we can interrogate his killer at least," he replied, confirming Ying's suspicions.

"Well then," Ying stood as well. "I suppose we have to go back to that brothel. That little courtesan will know where to find him. This time though, I don't think we need to ask nicely."

Shino nodded, his gaze directed toward the door, but Ying thought she caught the edge of a smile from above the boundary of his coat.

**Insect Stuff:** What Shino does with Hidemoto's body is forensic entomology. It is a real forensic approach to tell things like time of death about bodies based on the insects found in the corpse (principally various diptera) and has been in use for well over a century. I think it's rather neat.


End file.
